The role of nonlocalities in magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling processes

Microinstabilities are believed to play a crucial role in the physics of Magnetosphere-Ionosphere coupling. The current driven ion cyclotron instability is a very important microinstability in this respect. We give a nonlocal formalism for studying the ion cyclotron instability in a more realistic magnetospheric environment than is available in the widely used local theory. This formalism includes the magnetic shear produced self-consistently by the field aligned currents and the finite extent of such currents. Significant departures from the local theory are noted.     

Source processes in the high-latitude ionosphere

Space Science Reviews -     

Stabilization of an injected conducting layer for artificially enhancing drag on orbital debris

The evolution of a magnetized conducting medium suspended in magnetic and gravitational fields is examined. In this paper some effects of the influence of velocity fields on the linear stability properties of such layers are investigated. A fully compressible, three-dimensional analysis of the layer is described. The relevant equations are derived and then solved by the MagnetoHydroDynamic SPEctral Compressible Linear Stability (MHDSPECLS) algorithm, a Chebyshev collocation code. The code allows for the computation of magnetic and thermal effects. A complete stabilization of the system is found above a critical velocity of approximately 2500 m/s.