A Strong Instability in the Ion Cyclotron Frequency Range of the Upward Sheared Flow of the Oxygen Ions in Aurora

The dispersion relation of a new electrostatic ion cyclotron (IC) instability of a plasma with a sheared current of the oxygen ions along the magnetic field is investigated analytically and solved by numerical analysis. The considered case corresponds to the upward sheared flow of the oxygen ions in the aurora where the velocity shearing rate of ion current may be larger than the cyclotron frequency of O+ ion. In such a plasma, we found a new instability in the IC frequency range which develops in the sheared flow and can have a growth rate larger than O+ cyclotron frequency. This instability develops jointly with the known IC instability for the uniform current with a growth rate much less than O+ cyclotron frequency