Link between EMIC waves in a plasmaspheric plume and a detached sub-auroral proton arc with observations of Cluster and IMAGE satellites

Zhigang Yuan (1) , Xiaohua Deng (1) , Xi Lin (1) , Ye Pang (1) , Meng Zhou (1) , Pierrette Décréau (2) , Jean-Gabriel Trotignon (2) , E. Lucek (3) , H.U. Frey (4) , Jingfang Wang (1)

1 Wuhan University [China]
2 LPC2E - Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace
3 Imperial College London
4 SSL - Space Sciences Laboratory [Berkeley]

In this paper, we report observations from a Cluster satellite showing that ULF wave occurred in the outer boundary of a plasmaspheric plume on September 4, 2005. The band of observed ULF waves is between the He + ion gyrofrequency and O + ion gyrofrequency at the equatorial plane, implying that those ULF waves can be identified as EMIC waves generated by ring current ions in the equatorial plane and strongly affected by rich cold He + ions in plasmaspheric plumes. During the interval of observed EMIC waves, the footprint of Cluster SC3 lies in a subauroral proton arc observed by the IMAGE FUV instrument, demonstrating that the subauroral proton arc was caused by energetic ring current protons scattered into the loss cone under the Ring Current (RC)-EMIC interaction in the plasmaspheric plume. Therefore, the paper provides a direct proof that EMIC waves can be generated in the plasmaspheric plume and scatter RC ions to cause subauroral proton arcs.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Zhigang Yuan, Xiaohua Deng, Xi Lin, Ye Pang, Meng Zhou, et al.. Link between EMIC waves in a plasmaspheric plume and a detached sub-auroral proton arc with observations of Cluster and IMAGE satellites. Geophysical Research Letters, 2010, 37 (7), pp.n/a-n/a. ⟨10.1029/2010GL042711⟩. ⟨insu-03036035⟩