Haimeng Li

Statistical characteristics of EMIC wave‐driven relativistic electron precipitation with observations of POES satellites: Revisit

Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves play an important role in the magnetospheric dynamics and can scatter relativistic electrons in the outer radiation belt into the loss cone leading to the rapid loss of relativistic electrons. In this paper, we present characteristics of EMIC wave-driven relativistic electron precipitation (REP) with observations of six Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES). Based on the simultaneity between spikes in the P1 0° (Ep = 30 keV–80 keV) and P6 0° (Ee > 1 MeV) channels, in comparison with the criterion of Carson et al. (2013), we improve the algorithm and make it stricter. A total of 436,286 individual half orbits between 1998 and 2010 are inspected by this algorithm. The majority of selected events are observed at L values within the outer radiation belt (3 < L < 7) and more common in 1800–2200 magnetic local time. The distribution of normalized events follows the location of plasmapause contracting toward lower L value with the decrease of the Dst index, implying a strong link between detected events and the plasmapause. The cluster of normalized events moves to later afternoon sector where the peak occurrence of plasmaspheric plumes is located during geomagnetic storms. It is suggested that there is a connection between plasmaspheric plumes and detected events. Corresponding to the peak of event occurrence in 2003, solar wind dynamic pressure has a same peak. In addition, the minimum values of them are coincident. These results indicate that the increase of the solar wind dynamic pressure enhances the likelihood of EMIC wave-driven relativistic electron precipitation.

In situ observations of EMIC waves in O+ band by the Van Allen Probe A

Through polarization and spectra analysis of the magnetic field observed by the Van Allen Probe A, we present two typical cases of O+ band electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves in the outer plasmasphere or plasma trough. Although such O+ band EMIC waves are rarely observed, 18 different events of O+ band EMIC waves (16 events in the outer plasmasphere and two events in the plasma trough) are found from September 2012 to August 2014 with observations of the Van Allen Probe A. We find that the preferred region for the occurrence of O+ band EMIC waves is in L = 2–5 and magnetic local time  = 03–13, 19–20, which is in accordance with the occurrence region of O+ ion torus. Therefore, our result suggests that the O+ ion torus in the outer plasmasphere during geomagnetic activities should play an important role in the generation of EMIC waves in O+ band.

Statistical characteristics of EMIC waves: Van Allen Probe observations

Utilizing the data from the magnetometer instrument which is a part of the Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science instrument suite on board the Van Allen Probe A from September 2012 to April 2014, when the apogee of the satellite has passed all the magnetic local time (MLT) sectors, we obtain the statistical distribution characteristics of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves in the inner magnetosphere over all magnetic local times from L = 3 to L = 6. Compared with the previous statistical results about EMIC waves, the occurrence rates of EMIC waves distribute relatively uniform in the MLT sectors in lower L shells. On the other hand, in higher L shells, there are indeed some peaks of the occurrence rate for the EMIC waves, especially in the noon, dusk, and night sectors. EMIC waves appear at lower L shells in the dawn sector than in other sectors. In the lower L shells (L   4) the occurrence rates of EMIC waves are most significant in the dusk sector, implying the important role of the plasmapause or plasmaspheric plume in generating EMIC waves. We have also investigated the distribution characteristics of the hydrogen band and the helium band EMIC waves. Surprisingly, in the inner magnetosphere, the hydrogen band EMIC waves occur more frequently than the helium band EMIC waves. Both of them have peaks of occurrence rate in noon, dusk, and night sectors, and the hydrogen band EMIC waves have more obvious peaks than the helium band EMIC waves in the night sector, while the helium band EMIC waves are more concentrated than the hydrogen band EMIC waves in the dusk sector. Both of them occur significantly in the noon sector, which implies the important role of the solar wind dynamic pressure.

In situ evidence of the modification of the parallel propagation of EMIC waves by heated He+ ions

With observations of the Van Allen Probe B, we report in situ evidence of the modification of the parallel propagating electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves by heated He+ ions. In the outer boundary of the plasmasphere, accompanied with the He+ ion heating, the frequency bands of H+ and He+ for EMIC waves merged into each other, leading to the disappearance of a usual stop band between the gyrofrequency of He+ ions (ΩHe+) and the H+ cut-off frequency (ωH+co) in the cold plasma. Moreover, the dispersion relation for EMIC waves theoretically calculated with the observed plasma parameters also demonstrates that EMIC waves can indeed parallel propagate across ΩHe+. Therefore, the paper provides an in situ evidence of the modification of the parallel propagation of EMIC waves by heated He+ ions.

Influence of precipitating energetic ions caused by EMIC waves on the subauroral ionospheric E region during a geomagnetic storm

In this paper, we have presented the influence of precipitating energetic ions caused by electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves on the subauroral ionospheric E region during a geomagnetic storm on 8 March 2008 with observations of the Meteorological Operational (METOP-02) of the Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES), a GPS receiver in Vaasa of Finland and Finnish network of search coil magnetometers. Conjugate observations of the POES METOP-02 satellite and Finnish network of search coil magnetometers have demonstrated that enhancements of the precipitating energetic ion flux within the proton anisotropic zone are attributed to the interaction between ring current (RC) ions and EMIC waves. With enhancements of the intensity of Pc1 waves observed by search coil magnetometers, the total electron content observed by the GPS receiver accordingly increased, meaning that the enhancement of the ionospheric electron density is attributed to the precipitation of RC ions caused by EMIC waves. The electron density profiles derived by the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI-2007) model and with precipitating energetic protons observed by the POES METOP-02 satellite show that the energetic proton precipitation can cause the E layer peak electron density to increase from 1.62 × 109 m−3 to 5.05 × 1011 m−3 by 2.49 orders of magnitude. In comparison with the height-integrated conductivities derived by the IRI-2007 model, the height-integrated Pedersen and Hall conductivities derived with precipitating energetic protons increase by 2.4 and 2.34 orders of magnitude, respectively. Our result suggests that precipitating energetic ions caused by EMIC waves can lead to an obvious enhancement of the electron density and conductivities in the subauroral ionospheric E region during geomagnetic storms.

The enhancement of cosmic radio noise absorption due to hiss-driven energetic electron precipitation during substorms

The Van Allen probes, low-altitude NOAA satellite, MetOp satellite, and riometer are used to analyze variations of precipitating energetic electron fluxes and cosmic radio noise absorption (CNA) driven by plasmaspheric hiss with respect to geomagnetic activities. The hiss-driven energetic electron precipitations (at L ~ 4.7–5.3, magnetic local time (MLT) ~ 8–9) are observed during geomagnetic quiet condition and substorms, respectively. We find that the CNA detected by riometers increased very little in the hiss-driven event during quiet condition on 6 September 2012. The hiss-driven enhancement of riometer was still little during the first substorm on 30 September 2012. However, the absorption detected by the riometer largely increased, while the energies of the injected electrons became higher during the second substorm on 30 September 2012. The enhancement of CNA (ΔCNA) observed by the riometer and calculated with precipitating energetic electrons is in agreement during the second substorm, implying that the precipitating energetic electrons increase CNA to an obviously detectable level of the riometer during the second substorm on 30 September 2012. The conclusion is consistent with Rodger et al. (2012), which suggest that the higher level of ΔCNA prefers to occur in the substorms, because substorms may produce more intense energetic electron precipitation associated with electron injection. Furthermore, the combination of the observations and theory calculations also suggests that higher-energy electron (>55 keV) precipitation contributes more to the ΔCNA than the lower energy electron precipitation. In this paper, the higher-energy electron precipitation is related to lower frequency hiss.

Geomagnetic storms and EMIC waves: Van Allen Probe observations

Utilizing the data from magnetometer instrument of EMFISIS suite on board Van Allen Probe A, the occurrences of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) waves during geomagnetic storms and non storm periods are investigated. 270 EMIC wave events and 76 geomagnetic storms were identified during the period under research, from 8 September 2012 to 30 April 2014, when the apogee of Van Allen Probe A covered all the MLT sectors. 50 of the 76 storms observed 124 EMIC wave events, of which 80 are found in the recovery phase, more than those observed in the main phase. Majority EMIC wave events (~54%) were observed during the non-storm periods. Occurrence rates of EMIC waves as a function of L and MLT during different geomagnetic conditions are also examined, whose peaks in main phase are higher than those in recovery phase. However, occurrences of EMIC waves in recovery phase distribute more uniformly than those do in main phase. Evolution of the distribution characteristics of EMIC waves respect to L and MLT in different geomagnetic phases is investigated, consistent with that of the plasmasphere during geomagnetic storms, implying that the cold and dense plasma in the plasmasphere or plasmaspheric plume play a significant role in the generation of EMIC waves in the inner magnetosphere. Few EMIC waves in the dayside sector during the pre-onset periods are observed, suggesting that the effect of solar wind dynamic pressure on the generation of EMIC waves in the inner magnetosphere in those periods is not so significant as expected.

Statistical characteristics of potentially chorus-driven energetic electron precipitation from POES observations†

In this paper, using the Polar Orbiting Environment satellites (POES) in the year of 2011, we present global distributions of energetic electron precipitation (EEP) events that may driven by lower band chorus waves. Since the footprint of plasmapause in the ionospheric height can basically equal to mid-latitude trough minimum, it can be identified through the global total electron content (TEC) maps. Then we distinguish events perhaps driven by chorus waves outside the plasmapause or those driven by hiss waves inside the plasmapause. Based on the simultaneous observations of EEP in the E1 0o (>30 keV) and E2 0o (>100 keV) channels from POES satellites, a total of 4455 potentially chorus-driven events are identified. The potentially chorus-driven events are mainly distributed from midnight to noon which is similar to the distribution of lower band chorus waves. As the level of geomagnetic substorm activity increase, the occurrence rate is higher, which could be due to excitation of chorus waves associated with substorm electron injection. During higher level of substorm, a large number of events occur in lower L ~ shells. Besides, since the magnetosphere in the dayside is compressed and strong chorus waves are limited to the region where the ratio between the plasma frequency and electron gyro-frequency is less than 5, under the strong substorm, the events in the nightside are confined to lower L ~ shells due to smaller electron gyro-frequencies relative to those in the dayside. The occurrence rate of the events in the dayside also increase with enhancement of solar wind dynamic pressure, which suggests that the solar wind dynamic pressure can contribute to the excitation of events in the dayside. The statistics of potentially chorus-driven events are helpful to analyze the distribution of lower band chorus waves and their contributions to the loss of energetic electrons in the inner magnetosphere.