Two barium plasma injections into the northern magnetospheric cleft

Two rocket experiments, performed in January 1975, investigated convection of plasma formed by solar photoionization of barium injected into the northern magnetospheric cleft at 13 km/s upward and parallel to the local geomagnetic field. Plasma convection was demonstrated from the cleft's poleward region, directly into and across the polar cap, and possibly into the convection system of the nightside auroral electrojet; plasma injected centrally within the cleft under quiet magnetic conditions remained in the cleft convection system for at least 22 min and revealed a highly structured E-field over about 600 km of longitudinal extent. Cleft location agreed with that predicted by ionosondes.