Global Neutral Polar Wind Model

[1] The neutral polar wind shows a highly dynamic structure that depends on the characteristics of convection and precipitation. The ions in the polar wind are highly dependent on convection electric fields at high latitudes, and their outflow dynamics are modified by the heat input of precipitating electrons in the auroral zone. A new three-dimensional model of the neutral polar wind has been developed which takes into account the convecting ion polar wind and heating due to precipitating electrons in the auroral zone, along with charge exchange between the ion polar wind and the background thermal and geocoronal neutral atoms. The results show that over the polar caps the neutral polar wind particles exhibit extremely large fluxes in both the horizontal and vertical directions, and to a fixed observer it would appear that the neutral polar wind particles are moving in all directions. The results also show that the heating that occurs during geomagnetic storms leads to a significant coupling between the ionosphere and magnetosphere via both ion and neutral particles.