Counterstreaming hydrogen and oxygen ions observed in the magnetosphere on ISEE-1

Counterstreaming ions or ions travelling simultaneously both parallel and antiparallel to the magnetic field direction have been briefly noted in the literature but have not been studied previously in depth. We have studied over 60 counterstreaming ion (CSI) events observed on the ISEE-1 satellite. They were found to occur at altitudes of about 2 to 8 Earth radii on L shells of about 5 to 12 in the evening-to-morning sector from about 1700 - 0900 LT. Often both oxygen and hydrogen ions at a number of energy levels are counterstreaming but some events show only either oxygen or hydrogen ions involved. One particularly interesting event shows only counterstreaming oxygen ions with 417 eV energy; oxygen ions of lower energy (215 eV) and above (630–17000 eV) and all the hydrogen ions between 215–17000 eV energy have lower fluxes and/or nearly isotropic pitch angle distributions. This event correlates well with wave activity in the 17–100 Hz band and is also accompanied by 200 eV downgoing and 400 eV upgoing electrons. Details of this event and the other counterstreaming events are presented.