Chang Yang

Wave-driven butterfly distribution of Van Allen belt relativistic electrons

Van Allen radiation belts consist of relativistic electrons trapped by Earths magnetic field. Trapped electrons often drift azimuthally around Earth and display a butterfly pitch angle distribution of a minimum at 90° further out than geostationary orbit. This is usually attributed to drift shell splitting resulting from day–night asymmetry in Earths magnetic field. However, direct observation of a butterfly distribution well inside of geostationary orbit and the origin of this phenomenon have not been provided so far. Here we report high-resolution observation that a unusual butterfly pitch angle distribution of relativistic electrons occurred within 5 Earth radii during the 28 June 2013 geomagnetic storm. Simulation results show that combined acceleration by chorus and magnetosonic waves can successfully explain the electron flux evolution both in the energy and butterfly pitch angle distribution. The current provides a great support for the mechanism of wave-driven butterfly distribution of relativistic electrons.

Chorus acceleration of radiation belt relativistic electrons during March 2013 geomagnetic storm

The recent launching of Van Allen probes provides an unprecedent opportunity to investigate variations of the radiation belt relativistic electrons. During the 17-19 March 2013 storm, the Van Allen probes simultaneously detected strong chorus waves and substantial increases in fluxes of relativistic (2 - 4.5 MeV) electrons around L = 4.5. Chorus waves occurred within the lower band 0.1-0.5fce (the electron equatorial gyrofrequency), with a peak spectral density approximate to 10-4 nT2/Hz. Correspondingly, relativistic electron fluxes increased by a factor of 102-103 during the recovery phase compared to the main phase levels. By means of a Gaussian fit to the observed chorus spectra, the drift and bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients are calculated and then used to solve a 2-D Fokker-Planck diffusion equation. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the lower-band chorus waves indeed produce such huge enhancements in relativistic electron fluxes within 15 h, fitting well with the observation.

Nonstorm time scattering of ring current protons by electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves

We report correlated observation of enhanced electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves and dynamic evolution of ring current proton flux collected by Cluster satellite near the location L = 4.5 during March 26-27, 2003, a nonstorm period (D-st > -10). Energetic (5-30 keV) proton fluxes are found to drop rapidly (e.g., a half hour) at lower pitch angles, corresponding to intensified EMIC wave activities. By adopting a Gaussian fit to the observed spectra of EMIC waves, we present two-dimensional (2D) numerical simulations which demonstrate that EMIC wave can yield such decrements in proton flux within 30 minutes, consistent with the observational data. The current result provides a further understanding of ring current dynamics driven by wave-particle interaction under different geomagnetic activities.

Excitation of nightside magnetosonic waves observed by Van Allen Probes

During the recovery phase of the geomagnetic storm on 30–31 March 2013, Van Allen Probe A detected enhanced magnetosonic (MS) waves in a broad range of L = 1.8–4.7 and magnetic local time (MLT) = 17–22 h, with a frequency range ∼10–100 Hz. In the meanwhile, distinct proton ring distributions with peaks at energies of ∼10 keV, were also observed in L = 3.2–4.6 and L = 5.0–5.6. Using a subtracted bi-Maxwellian distribution to model the observed proton ring distribution, we perform three-dimensional ray tracing to investigate the instability, propagation, and spatial distribution of MS waves. Numerical results show that nightside MS waves are produced by proton ring distribution and grow rapidly from the source location L = 5.6 to the location L = 5.0 but remain nearly stable at locations L < 5.0. Moreover, waves launched toward lower L shells with different initial azimuthal angles propagate across different MLT regions with divergent paths at first, then gradually turn back toward higher L shells and propagate across different MLT regions with convergent paths. The current results further reveal that MS waves are generated by a ring distribution of ∼10 keV proton and proton ring in one region can contribute to the MS wave power in another region.

Penetration of magnetosonic waves into the plasmasphere observed by the Van Allen Probes

During the small storm on 14–15 April 2014, Van Allen Probe A measured a continuously distinct proton ring distribution and enhanced magnetosonic (MS) waves along its orbit outside the plasmapause. Inside the plasmasphere, strong MS waves were still present but the distinct proton ring distribution was falling steeply with distance. We adopt a sum of subtracted bi-Maxwellian components to model the observed proton ring distribution and simulate the wave trajectory and growth. MS waves at first propagate toward lower L shells outside the plasmasphere, with rapidly increasing path gains related to the continuous proton ring distribution. The waves then gradually cross the plasmapause into the deep plasmasphere, with almost unchanged path gains due to the falling proton ring distribution and higher ambient density. These results present the first report on how MS waves penetrate into the plasmasphere with the aid of the continuous proton ring distributions during weak geomagnetic activities.

Generation of proton aurora by magnetosonic waves.

Earths proton aurora occurs over a broad MLT region and is produced by the precipitation of low-energy (2–10 keV) plasmasheet protons. Proton precipitation can alter chemical compositions of the atmosphere, linking solar activity with global climate variability. Previous studies proposed that electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves can resonate with protons, producing proton scattering precipitation. A long-outstanding question still remains whether there is another mechanism responsible for the proton aurora. Here, by performing satellite data analysis and diffusion equation calculations, we show that fast magnetosonic waves can produce trapped proton scattering that yields proton aurora. This provides a new insight into the mechanism of proton aurora. Furthermore, a ray-tracing study demonstrates that magnetosonic wave propagates over a broad MLT region, consistent with the global distribution of proton aurora.

Excitation of electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves under different geomagnetic activities: THEMIS observation and modeling

Understanding excitation of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves remains a considerable scientific challenge in the magnetospheric physics. Here we adopt correlated data from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) spacecraft under low (K-p = 1(+)) and medium (K-p = 4) geomagnetic activities to investigate the favorable conditions for the excitation of EMIC waves. We utilize a sum of bi-Maxwellian components and kappa components to fit the observed ion (6-25 keV) distributions collected by the electrostatic analyzer (ESA) onboard the THEMIS spacecraft. We show that the kappa distribution models better and more smoothly with the observations. Then we evaluate the local growth rate and path-integrated gain of EMIC waves by bi-Maxwellian and kappa distributions, respectively. We demonstrate that the path-integrated wave gain simulated from the kappa distribution is consistent with observations, with intensities 24 dB in H+ band and 33 dB in He+ band. However, bi-Maxwellian distribution tends to overestimate the wave growth rate and path-integrated gain, with intensities 49 dB in H+ band and 48 dB in He+ band. Moreover, compared to the He+ band, a higher proton anisotropy is needed to excite the H+ band waves. The current study presents a further observational support for the understanding of EMIC wave instability under different geomagnetic conditions and suggests that the kappa-type distributions representative of the power law spectra are probably ubiquitous in space plasmas. Citation: Zhou, Q., F. Xiao, J. Shi, C. Yang, Y. He, and L. Tang (2013), Excitation of electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves under different geomagnetic activities: THEMIS observation and modeling, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 118, 340-349, doi:10.1029/2012JA018325.

A positive correlation between energetic electron butterfly distributions and magnetosonic waves in the radiation belt slot region

Energetic (hundreds of keV) electrons in the radiation belt slot region have been found to exhibit the butterfly pitch angle distributions. Resonant interactions with magnetosonic and whistler-mode waves are two potential mechanisms for the formation of these peculiar distributions. Here we perform a statistical study of energetic electron pitch angle distribution characteristics measured by Van Allen Probes in the slot region during a three-year period from May 2013 to May 2016. Our results show that electron butterfly distributions are closely related to magnetosonic waves rather than to whistler-mode waves. Both electron butterfly distributions and magnetosonic waves occur more frequently at the geomagnetically active times than at the quiet times. In a statistical sense, more distinct butterfly distributions usually correspond to magnetosonic waves with larger amplitudes and vice versa. The averaged magnetosonic wave amplitude is less than 5 pT in the case of normal and flat-top distributions with a butterfly index BI = 1 but reaches ∼ 35–95 pT in the case of distinct butterfly distributions with BI > 1.3. For magnetosonic waves with amplitudes >50 pT, the occurrence rate of butterfly distribution is above 80%. Our study suggests that energetic electron butterfly distributions in the slot region are primarily caused by magnetosonic waves.

Rapid flattening of butterfly pitch-angle distributions of radiation belt electrons by whistler-mode chorus†

Van Allen radiation belt electrons exhibit complex dynamics during geomagnetically active periods. Investigation of electron pitch-angle distributions (PADs) can provide important information on the dominant physical mechanisms controlling radiation belt behaviors. Here we report a storm-time radiation belt event where energetic electron PADs changed from butterfly distributions to normal or flattop distributions within several hours. Van Allen Probes observations showed that the flattening of butterfly PADs were closely related to the occurrence of whistler-mode chorus waves. Two-dimensional quasi-linear STEERB simulations demonstrate that the observed chorus can resonantly accelerate the near-equatorially trapped electrons and rapidly flatten the corresponding electron butterfly PADs. These results provide a new insight on how chorus waves affect the dynamic evolution of radiation belt electrons.

Determining the mechanism of cusp proton aurora

Earths cusp proton aurora occurs near the prenoon and is primarily produced by the precipitation of solar energetic (2–10 keV) protons. Cusp auroral precipitation provides a direct source of energy for the high-latitude dayside upper atmosphere, contributing to chemical composition change and global climate variability. Previous studies have indicated that magnetic reconnection allows solar energetic protons to cross the magnetopause and enter the cusp region, producing cusp auroral precipitation. However, energetic protons are easily trapped in the cusp region due to a minimum magnetic field existing there. Hence, the mechanism of cusp proton aurora has remained a significant challenge for tens of years. Based on the satellite data and calculations of diffusion equation, we demonstrate that EMIC waves can yield the trapped proton scattering that causes cusp proton aurora. This moves forward a step toward identifying the generation mechanism of cusp proton aurora.