O. Le Contel

Identifying the Driver of Pulsating Aurora

Auroral Chorus Energetic particles that arrive from near-Earth space produce photon emissions—the aurora—as they bombard the atmosphere in the polar regions. The pulsating aurora, which is characterized by temporal intensity variations, is thought to be caused by modulations in electron precipitation possibly produced by resonance with electromagnetic waves in Earths magnetosphere. Nishimura et al. (p. 81) present a detailed study of an event that showed a good correlation between the temporal changes in auroral luminosity and chorus emission—a type of electromagnetic wave occurring in Earths magnetosphere. The results points to chorus waves as the driver of the pulsating aurora. Correlations are found between aurora light intensity and a type of electromagnetic wave in Earth’s magnetosphere. Pulsating aurora, a spectacular emission that appears as blinking of the upper atmosphere in the polar regions, is known to be excited by modulated, downward-streaming electrons. Despite its distinctive feature, identifying the driver of the electron precipitation has been a long-standing problem. Using coordinated satellite and ground-based all-sky imager observations from the THEMIS mission, we provide direct evidence that a naturally occurring electromagnetic wave, lower-band chorus, can drive pulsating aurora. Because the waves at a given equatorial location in space correlate with a single pulsating auroral patch in the upper atmosphere, our findings can also be used to constrain magnetic field models with much higher accuracy than has previously been possible.

An Observation Linking the Origin of Plasmaspheric Hiss to Discrete Chorus Emissions

Chorus Hissing Plasmaspheric hiss, a type of unstructured broadband, low-frequency radio emission, has long been known to exist in Earths plasmasphere, but its origin has been uncertain. The source of hiss could be a different type of radio wave, called chorus, which originates outside the plasmasphere during geomagnetic storms. Both types of radio wave influence the behavior of energetic electrons in the near-Earth space environment, with implications for spacecraft and astronaut safety, but a correlation between the two has been difficult to establish experimentally. Recently, two of the five satellites of the THEMIS constellation were fortuitously able to record 4 minutes of electromagnetic wave data at high resolution during geomagnetically active conditions, detecting both chorus and hiss. An analysis of the data by Bortnik et al. (p. 775; see the Perspective by Santolik and Chum) revealed that the two sets of waves were well correlated, with hiss lagging behind chorus as expected, implying that one indeed evolved into the other. The radio waves that remove energetic electrons from Earth’s radiation belts originate outside the plasmasphere. A long-standing problem in the field of space physics has been the origin of plasmaspheric hiss, a naturally occurring electromagnetic wave in the high-density plasmasphere (roughly within 20,000 kilometers of Earth) that is known to remove the high-energy Van Allen Belt electrons that pose a threat to satellites and astronauts. A recent theory tied the origin of plasmaspheric hiss to a seemingly different wave in the outer magnetosphere, but this theory was difficult to test because of a challenging set of observational requirements. Here we report on the experimental verification of the theory, made with a five-satellite NASA mission. This confirmation will allow modeling of plasmaspheric hiss and its effects on the high-energy radiation environment.

THEMIS analysis of observed equatorial electron distributions responsible for the chorus excitation

[1] A statistical survey of plasma densities and electron distributions (0.5–100 keV) is performed using data obtained from the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions During Substorms spacecraft in near‐equatorial orbits from 1 July 2007 to 1 May 2009 in order to investigate optimum conditions for whistler mode chorus excitation. The plasma density calculated from the spacecraft potential, together with in situ magnetic field, is used to construct global maps of cyclotron and Landau resonant energies under quiet, moderate, and active geomagnetic conditions. Statistical results show that chorus intensity increases at higher AE index, with the strongest waves confined to regions where the ratio between the plasma frequency and gyrofrequency, fpe/fce, is less than 5. On the nightside, large electron anisotropies and intense chorus emissions indicate remarkable consistency with the confinement to 8 RE. Furthermore, as injected plasma sheet electrons drift from midnight through dawn toward the noon sector, their anisotropy increases and peaks on the dayside at 7 6) on the dayside. In addition, very isotropic distributions at a few keV, which may be produced by Landau resonance and contribute to the formation of the typical gap in the chorus spectrum near 0.5 fce, are commonly observed on the dayside. Citation: Li, W., et al. (2010), THEMIS analysis of observed equatorial electron distributions responsible for the chorus excitation, J. Geophys. Res., 115, A00F11, doi:10.1029/2009JA014845.

The quasi‐electrostatic mode of chorus waves and electron nonlinear acceleration

Selected Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions During Substorms observations at medium latitudes of highly oblique and high-amplitude chorus waves are presented and analyzed. The presence of such very intense waves is expected to have important consequences on electron energization in the magnetosphere. An analytical model is therefore developed to evaluate the efficiency of the trapping and acceleration of energetic electrons via Landau resonance with such nearly electrostatic chorus waves. Test-particle simulations are then performed to illustrate the conclusions derived from the analytical model, using parameter values consistent with observations. It is shown that the energy gain can be much larger than the initial particle energy for 10 keV electrons, and it is further demonstrated that this energy gain is weakly dependent on the density variation along field lines.

Electron jet of asymmetric reconnection

We present Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of an electron-scale current sheet and electron outflow jet for asymmetric reconnection with guide field at the subsolar magnetopause. The electron ...

Current-driven electromagnetic ion cyclotron instability at substorm onset

ULF waves at frequencies of the order of the proton gyrofrequency are systematically detected at the early development of substorm breakups. The observed characteristics of these ULF waves, namely their polarization and δE/δB ratio are consistent with being electromagnetic waves driven unstable by a parallel current. In order to take into account properly wave particle interactions, a kinetic approach is used. We show that a parallel drift between electrons and ions leads to a strong instability, resulting from a coupling between the shear Alfven (SA) mode and the fast magnetosonic mode via this drift. We call it current-driven Alfven instability (CDA). We have carried out a parametric study of this current-driven electromagnetic instability in a parameter range adapted to conditions prevailing at the geostationary orbit before and during breakup. We conclude that even a modest parallel drift between electrons and ions (Vd), caused by a parallel current, can destabilize CDA waves. When the ratio between Vd/VA (VA being the Alfven velocity) increases, the CDA mode couples with SA mode. These two modes have a substantial parallel electric field that leads to a fast parallel diffusion of the electrons. We suggest that this parallel diffusion leads to an interruption of the parallel current.

Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of large-amplitude, parallel, electrostatic waves associated with magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause

We report observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale satellites of large-amplitude, parallel, electrostatic waves associated with magnetic reconnection at the Earths magnetopause. The observe ...

Estimation of magnetic field mapping accuracy using the pulsating aurora‐chorus connection

Although magnetic field models are widely used in magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling studies to perform field-line mapping, their accuracy has been difficult to estimate experimentally. Taking advan ...

Disruption of parallel current at substorm breakup

We study the development of substorm breakups characterized by dispersionless injections of energetic particles at the geostationary orbit. The corresponding magnetic signature is a fast change from tail-like to dipole-like configuration with transient superimposed low frequency oscillations (T∼1 mn). We show that intense waves (δB ≈ 1 nT) with shorter periods (1 s) systematically develop at breakup, and that their intensification is strongly related to the dipolarization and to the fast increase of energetic electrons. These “higher frequency” (F ∼1 Hz) waves appear as short lasting bursts, strongly confined across the magnetic field. Hence they look like kinetic Alfven waves and are likely to have finite parallel electric fields, thereby resonating with electrons. We compute the diffusion coefficient and show that electrons are heated along the parallel direction and can gain up to 5 keV in a few tens of seconds. This fast parallel diffusion of electrons leads to cancellation of the parallel current and therefore to a complete modification of the current system.

Whistler mode waves and Hall fields detected by MMS during a dayside magnetopause crossing

We present Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission measurements during a full magnetopause crossing associated with an enhanced southward ion flow. A quasi-steady magnetospheric whistler mode wave ...