  The aurora often breaks down into elongated filaments that are aligned with
the geomagnetic field. It is natural to infer from this that when important
structures are found in the electrostatic fields they, too, will follow a
cylindrical geometry. With ionospheric applications in mind, we have therefore
studied the response of the ion distribution function and its transport
properties to the sudden introduction of an electric field which increases
linearly 15 with radial distance.
