Infrastructure or equipment

A 3D kinetic dynamic model of the plasmasphere has been developed at BIRA-IASB (Pierrard and Stegen, 2008). It provides the plasmapause position using the mechanism of interchange instability (Pierrard and Lemaire, 2004). Our 3D dynamic model of the plasmasphere also provides the number density and the temperature of the electrons and protons. During geomagnetic storms the plasmasphere is eroded and structures like plasma plumes and channels may appear. During quiet times, the plasmasphere is more extended. The plasmasphere model has been coupled with the ionosphere using the empirical International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) as boundary conditions (Pierrard and Voiculescu, 2011). The model can be run on the SSA website of ESA (http://swe.ssa.esa.int/space-radiation) and on the CCMC (Community Coordinated Modeling Center) website of NASA (http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov).