Global and local Joule heating effects seen by DE 2

In the altitude region between 350 and 550 km, variations in the ion temperature principally reflect similar variations in the local frictional heating produced by a velocity difference between the ions and the neutrals. Here, the distribution of the ion temperature in this altitude region is shown, and its attributes in relation to previous work on local Joule heating rates are discussed. In addition to the ion temperature, instrumentation on the DE 2 satellite also provides a measure of the ion velocity vector representative of the total electric field. From this information, the local Joule heating rate is derived. From an estimate of the height-integrated Pedersen conductivity it is also possible to estimate the global (height-integrated) Joule heating rate. Here, the differences and relationships between these various parameters are described.