Does ring current heating generate the observed O + shell?

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 7 October 2015 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.