Quantification of Energetic Electron Precipitation Driven by Plume Whistler Mode Waves, Plasmaspheric Hiss, and Exohiss

Abstract

Whistler mode waves are important for precipitating energetic electrons into Earth's upper atmosphere, while the quantitative effect of each type of whistler mode wave on electron precipitation is not well understood. In this letter, we evaluate energetic electron precipitation driven by three types of whistler mode waves: plume whistler mode waves, plasmaspheric hiss, and exohiss observed outside the plasmapause. By quantitatively analyzing three conjunction events between Van Allen Probes and POES/MetOp satellites, together with quasi‐linear calculation, we found that plume whistler mode waves are most effective in pitch angle scattering loss, particularly for the electrons from tens to hundreds of keV. Our new finding provides the first direct evidence of effective pitch angle scattering driven by plume whistler mode waves and is critical for understanding energetic electron loss process in the inner magnetosphere. We suggest the effect of plume whistler mode waves be accurately incorporated into future radiation belt modeling.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Apr 08, 2019
Source ID
10.1029/2019gl082095

Entities

People

  • Craig Kletzing
  • Geoffrey D Reeves
  • George G. Hospodarsky
  • Juan Rodriguez
  • Luisa Capannolo
  • Qianli Ma
  • R. J. Redmon
  • Run Shi
  • Wen Li
  • William S. Kurth
  • X.‐c. Shen

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
  • Boston University
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • Norwegian Nurses Organisation
  • University of Colorado Boulder
  • University of Iowa

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster