The plasma populating the magnetosphere comes from a mix of two sources: the solar wind and the ionosphere. This ionospheric plasma is initially much less energetic than the average magnetospheric plasma. Its low energy places very often below the detection range of the instruments, despite its non-negligible density. To understand the global evolution and dynamics of the ionospheric plasmas in the magnetosphere, an extensive comprehension of the dynamics in the different regions of the magnetosphere, as well as their interactions, is needed. A global picture can be provided by Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations of the whole magnetosphere, but such simulations miss many kinetic scale heating processes. Therefore, the global approach has to be completed by local studies focusing on the main dynamic regions using kinetic simulations and spacecraft observations.
Our team rely on spacecraft data and pre-existing studies to seek, for each source of ionospheric plasmas, the evolution of the plasma characteristics across the magnetosphere. Using global simulations, we work on identifying the places where significant kinetic heating is expected. Finally, we rely on kinetic simulations supported by spacecraft observations to identify and characterize the kinetic heating processes of ionospheric plasmas. Our final objective is to provide for each known source of ionospheric plasmas, a detailed description of its trajectory and energization across the magnetosphere.