TY - JOUR
T1 - A Census of Plasma Waves and Structures Associated With an Injection Front in the Inner Magnetosphere
AU - Malaspina, David M.
AU - Ukhorskiy, Aleksandr
AU - Chu, Xiangning
AU - Wygant, John
PY - 2018/4
Y1 - 2018/4
N2 - Now that observations have conclusively established that the inner magnetosphere is abundantly populated with kinetic electric field structures and nonlinear waves, attention has turned to quantifying the ability of these structures and waves to scatter and accelerate inner magnetospheric plasma populations. A necessary step in that quantification is determining the distribution of observed structure and wave properties (e.g., occurrence rates, amplitudes, and spatial scales). Kinetic structures and nonlinear waves have broadband signatures in frequency space, and consequently, high-resolution time domain electric and magnetic field data are required to uniquely identify such structures and waves as well as determine their properties. However, most high-resolution fields data are collected with a strong bias toward high-amplitude signals in a preselected frequency range, strongly biasing observations of structure and wave properties. In this study, an ∼45 min unbroken interval of 16,384 samples/s field burst data, encompassing an electron injection event, is examined. This data set enables an unbiased census of the kinetic structures and nonlinear waves driven by this electron injection, as well as determination of their “typical” properties. It is found that the properties determined using this unbiased burst data are considerably different than those inferred from amplitude-biased burst data, with significant implications for wave-particle interactions due to kinetic structures and nonlinear waves in the inner magnetosphere.
AB - Now that observations have conclusively established that the inner magnetosphere is abundantly populated with kinetic electric field structures and nonlinear waves, attention has turned to quantifying the ability of these structures and waves to scatter and accelerate inner magnetospheric plasma populations. A necessary step in that quantification is determining the distribution of observed structure and wave properties (e.g., occurrence rates, amplitudes, and spatial scales). Kinetic structures and nonlinear waves have broadband signatures in frequency space, and consequently, high-resolution time domain electric and magnetic field data are required to uniquely identify such structures and waves as well as determine their properties. However, most high-resolution fields data are collected with a strong bias toward high-amplitude signals in a preselected frequency range, strongly biasing observations of structure and wave properties. In this study, an ∼45 min unbroken interval of 16,384 samples/s field burst data, encompassing an electron injection event, is examined. This data set enables an unbiased census of the kinetic structures and nonlinear waves driven by this electron injection, as well as determination of their “typical” properties. It is found that the properties determined using this unbiased burst data are considerably different than those inferred from amplitude-biased burst data, with significant implications for wave-particle interactions due to kinetic structures and nonlinear waves in the inner magnetosphere.
KW - electron injection
KW - inner magnetosphere
KW - kinetic structures
KW - plasma boundaries
KW - plasma waves
KW - radiation belts
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U2 - 10.1002/2017JA025005
DO - 10.1002/2017JA025005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85044787823
VL - 123
SP - 2566
EP - 2587
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research A: Space Physics
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research A: Space Physics
SN - 2169-9380
IS - 4
ER -