X. Z. Zhou

The interaction between ULF waves and thermal plasma ions at the plasmaspheric boundary layer during substorm activity

During a substorm on 27 January 2004, energetic particle injections associated with ULF waves have been detected when Cluster fleet was traveling inbound in the Southern Hemisphere. Substorm-injected energetic particles are strong and clearly modulated by these ULF waves. The ULF waves with the period of 1 min are probably the third harmonic mode. The periodic pitch angle dispersion signatures at 5.2–6.9 keV energy channel were detected by Cluster satellite. These thermal plasma have high coherence with the electric field of the third harmonic poloidal mode and satisfy the drift-bounce resonant condition of N = 2. In addition, ion outflows from the Earths ionosphere (tens to hundreds of eV) are also observed to be modulated by these ULF waves. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to show that ULF waves can simultaneously interact with both substorm-injected “hot” particles from the magnetotail and cold outflow ions from the Earths ionosphere.

Relativistic electron dynamics produced by azimuthally localized poloidal mode ULF waves: Boomerang‐shaped pitch angle evolutions

We present an analysis of “boomerang-shaped” pitch angle evolutions of outer radiation belt relativistic electrons observed by the Van Allen Probes after the passage of an interplanetary shock on June 7th, 2014. The flux at different pitch angles is modulated by Pc5 waves, with equatorially mirroring electrons reaching the satellite first. For 90∘ pitch angle electrons, the phase change of the flux modulations across energy exceeds 180∘, and increasingly tilts with time. Using estimates of the arrival time of particles of different pitch angles at the spacecraft location, a scenario is investigated in which shock-induced ULF waves interact with electrons through the drift resonance mechanism in a localized region westward of the spacecraft. Numerical calculations on particle energy gain with the modified ULF wave field reproduce the observed boomerang stripes and modulations in the electron energy spectrogram. The study of boomerang stripes and their relationship to drift-resonance taking place at a location different from the observation point adds new understanding of the processes controlling the dynamics of the outer radiation belt.

Electron dropout echoes induced by interplanetary shock: Van Allen Probes observations

On 23 November 2012, a sudden dropout of the relativistic electron flux was observed after an interplanetary shock arrival. The dropout peaks at ∼1 MeV and more than 80% of the electrons disappeared from the drift shell. Van Allen twin Probes observed a sharp electron flux dropout with clear energy dispersion signals. The repeating flux dropout and recovery signatures, or “dropout echoes”, constitute a new phenomenon referred to as a “drifting electron dropout” with a limited initial spatial range. The azimuthal range of the dropout is estimated to be on the duskside, from ∼1300 to 0100 LT. We conclude that the shock-induced electron dropout is not caused by the magnetopause shadowing. The dropout and consequent echoes suggest that the radial migration of relativistic electrons is induced by the strong dusk-dawn asymmetric interplanetary shock compression on the magnetosphere.

Statistics of the field‐aligned currents at the high‐latitude energetic electron boundaries in the nightside: Cluster observation

Magnetic field disturbances with a clear bipolar signature are frequently observed when the Cluster spacecraft fleet passes through both southern and northern high-latitude energetic electron boundaries at the nightside magnetosphere. The dominant variation of the bipolar signature is in the azimuthal direction of the local mean field-aligned coordinate, indicating a field-aligned current. From 2001 to 2008, we have examined 110 events with the magnetic field and energetic electron measurements. The main results can be summarized as follows: (1) The density and thickness of the field-aligned current, calculated under the assumption of the one-dimensional sheet, are in order of tens of nA/m(2) and hundreds of kilometers, respectively. (2) Currents flowing into and away from the ionosphere tend to be observed in the postmidnight and premidnight sector, respectively, which have the same polarity as the region 1 current system. (3) These currents mainly distribute in the 60 degrees-75 degrees magnetic latitude region after mapping to the ionosphere. We also find that the current density and corresponding magnetic field variation are positively correlated with the Kp index and solar wind pressure, but almost independent of the AE index.

Low-energy (< 200 eV) electron acceleration by ULF waves in the plasmaspheric boundary layer: Van Allen Probes observation

We report observational evidence of cold plamsmaspheric electron (< 200 eV) acceleration by ultra-low-frequency (ULF) waves in the plasmaspheric boundary layer on 10 September 2015. Strongly enhanced cold electron fluxes in the energy spectrogram were observed along with second harmonic mode waves with a period of about 1 minute which lasted several hours during two consecutive Van Allen Probe B orbits. Cold electron (<200 eV) and energetic proton (10-20 keV) bi-directional pitch angle signatures observed during the event are suggestive of the drift-bounce resonance mechanism. The correlation between enhanced energy fluxes and ULF waves leads to the conclusions that plasmaspheric dynamics is strongly affected by ULF waves. Van Allen Probe A and B, GOES 13, GOES 15 and MMS 1 observations suggest ULF waves in the event were strongest on the dusk-side magnetosphere. Measurements from MMS 1 contain no evidence of an external wave source during the period when ULF waves and injected energetic protons with a bump-on-tail distribution were detected by Van Allen Probe B. This suggests that the observed ULF waves were probably excited by a localized drift-bounce resonant instability, with the free energy supplied by substorm-injected energetic protons. The observations by Van Allen Probe B suggest that energy transfer between particle species in different energy ranges can take place through the action of ULF waves, demonstrating the important role of these waves in the dynamical processes of the inner magnetosphere.