Abstract
The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Sami3 is Also a Model of the
Ionosphere (SAMI3) ionosphere/plasmasphere code is used to examine the
effect of ring current heating during a storm. With a ring current
heating function added to SAMI3, a cold thermal ($< 1$ eV)
oxygen ion outflow is produced, with O$^+$ density and location
similar to observations of the so-called “oxygen torus.’ The ring
current heating function is based on a Comprehensive Inner
Magnetosphere-Ionosphere (CIMI) model simulation of the 2015 October 7
storm. We find that the ring current can heat plasmasphere electrons,
subsequently heating plasmasphere H$^+$, and ionosphere O$^+$.
The resulting O$^+$ outflows resemble observed O$^+$
enhancements in the inner magnetosphere.