Abstract
Cold oxygen ions escaping from the ionosphere and temporarily trapped
near the plasmapause form the oxygen torus. Mass-loading by these oxygen
ions significantly affects magnetospheric plasma processes. However, due
to the technical challenges in measuring cold oxygen ions and the
limited spatial and temporal coverage of space missions within the
magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling system, the generation mechanism of
oxygen torus remains unclear. Here, we propose a novel approach to
determine the ion abundances from the observable polarization and
propagation characteristics of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC)
waves and identify a narrow oxygen torus near the noonside plasmapause
during a geomagnetically quiet period. Our data and theoretical
calculations suggest that the formation of this oxygen torus involved
excitation of EMIC waves by ring current protons, wave-driven Landau
heating of plasmaspheric electrons, heat conduction from the
magnetosphere to the ionosphere, and upward thermal diffusion of
ionospheric oxygen ions into the magnetosphere.