The ion energy spectra in the ring current during the geomagnetic storm of February 1986

The largest geomagnetic storm in several decades occurred in February 1986, with a minimum Dst of -312 nT. In this experiment, the CHEM instrument on the AMPTE/CCE spacecraft has been used to study the development of this storm in more detail. By comparing measurements of phase space density (f) vs magnetic moment (mu) for four ion species H(+), O(+), He (+), and He(++) during consecutive passes through the ring current region, a distinction can be made between flux increases that require the injection of a new population and those that are consistent with the adiabatic acceleration of a pre-existing population. It is shown that the smaller flux observed during the outbound pass compared to the preceding inbound pass at the time of minimum Dst is due to the difference in local times of the two measurements. This local time difference is consistent with a greatly enhanced convection electric field, which brings a new population from the magnetotail to the post-noon, but not to pre-noon local time sector.