Ion-Exosphere with Variable Conditions at the Baropause

The model ion-exosphere of Eviatar, Lenchek, and Singer for a nonrotating planet with a static, centered-dipole magnetic field is generalized by permitting the density and temperature to vary over the baropause. In particular, the density and/or temperature are allowed to differ at the conjugate magnetic field points of the baropause. For this case, the ion and electron velocity-distribution functions, satisfying the Vlasov equations in the drift approximation, are constructed. Then, the species densities are determined from the distributions and compared with the corresponding results of Eviatar et al. for the case of uniform density and temperature at the baropause. In addition, the particle current densities, pressures, and temperatures are derived.