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Magnetosphere‐Ionosphere Coupling of Precipitated Electrons in Diffuse Aurora Driven by Time Domain Structures

G. V. Khazanov, Yangyang Shen, I. Y. Vasko, Anton Artemyev, Mike Chu

2021Geophysical Research Letters18 citationsDOIOpen Access PDF

Abstract

Abstract Recent theoretical studies and the spacecraft conjugate observations between the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission and the low‐altitude Enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (e‐POP) spacecraft demonstrated the connections between broadband electrostatic fluctuations, the so called time domain structures (TDSs), and electron precipitation in the region of diffuse aurora. In this letter, we used the SuperThermal Electron Transport (STET) code to implement these theoretical and experimental results and analyze magnetosphere‐ionosphere energy interplay of the precipitated electrons that are driven by TDSs. To put TDSs electron scattering processes in the context with other wave scattering activities, ECH and whistler chorus waves are taken into account. Integrated electron energy fluxes in the diffuse aurora driven by TDSs are comparable to those driven by whistler waves. We find that including Magnetosphere‐Ionosphere coupling processes increases the integrated electron energy fluxes by more than two times than only driven by TDSs.

Topics & Concepts

Electron precipitationWhistlerPhysicsMagnetosphereIonosphereElectronContext (archaeology)Van Allen radiation beltSpacecraftComputational physicsGeophysicsPlasmaAstronomyNuclear physicsGeologyPaleontologyIonosphere and magnetosphere dynamicsSolar and Space Plasma DynamicsAstro and Planetary Science
Magnetosphere‐Ionosphere Coupling of Precipitated Electrons in Diffuse Aurora Driven by Time Domain Structures | Litcius