Storm Time O+ Ring current Imaging Evolution (STORIE)

Earth's ring current populations, comprised of the trapped 10-100s keV particles in the inner magnetosphere, is critically important to understanding space weather. For instance, the ring current carries the majority of the energy density during geomagnetic events, it drives region 2 currents into the ionosphere changing the magnetospheric convection, and affects the spacecraft charging environment.One of the greatest unresolved mysteries of the ring current is the role and evolution of the different ion constituents. Both data and simulation studies demonstrate that plasma composition varies dramatically during geomagnetic events and has a particularly strong effect on the inner magnetosphere. During storms, O+ carries a significant portion of the ring current pressure and alters the magnetic field in the inner magnetosphere. The overall objective of this proposal is to understand the response of ring current composition to geomagnetic events. Specifically, we will address the following: (1) Determine whether enhanced convection or frequent injections are responsible for building the O+ and H+ ring current during storms. (2) Quantify the relative importance of quiet time O+ outflow and stormtime O+ outflow in building the ring current. (3) Determine the importance of charge exchange in ring current recovery. (4) Quantify how the MLT dependence of ring current composition evolves during a storm. To achieve these objectives we propose to build and fly an Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) instrument on the International Space Station (ISS). The instrument will continuously monitor the ring current using O and H ENAs to determine composition and Magnetic Local Time (MLT) dependence extracted by scanning over the orbit. This project is directly relevant to the 2019 HFORT which seeks to provide unique opportunities for the, ``execution of intrinsically meritorious science investigations'' and for ``preparing future leaders of NASA space flight missions''. This project addresses questions of critical scientific importance to inner magnetospheric research and advances ENA imaging technology. The project also relates directly to NASA Strategic Goal 3.2 “Understand the Sun and its effects on Earth and the solar system” (e.g. Subgoal 3B.3: “Progress in developing the capability to predict the extreme and dynamic conditions in space ... ”), and addresses several questions from the 2013-2022 Heliophysics NRC Decadal Survey.

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