There is considerable evidence that current sheet scattering (CSS) plays an important role in isotropic boundary (IB) formation during quiet time. However, IB formation can also result from scattering by electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, which are much more prevalent during storm time. The effectiveness of CSS can be estimated by the parameter
Recent studies have found that even during quiet times, observed proton isotropic boundaries (IBs) are often projected to the region of high adiabaticity parameter (
- Award ID(s):
- 1663770
- PAR ID:
- 10480338
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
- Volume:
- 124
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2169-9380
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1785 to 1805
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract We present analysis of 17,043 proton kinetic-scale current sheets (CSs) collected over 124 days of Wind spacecraft measurements in the solar wind at 11 samples s−1magnetic field resolution. The CSs have thickness,
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Abstract Previously, Tsurutani and Lakhina (2014,
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Abstract We analyze the drivers, distribution, and properties of the relativistic electron precipitation (REP) detected near midnight by the Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) and Meteorological Operational (MetOp) satellites, critical for understanding radiation belt losses and nightside atmospheric energy input. REP is either driven by wave‐particle interactions (isolated precipitation within the outer radiation belt), or current sheet scattering (CSS; precipitation with energy dispersion), or a combination of the two. We evaluate the L‐MLT distribution for the identified REP events in which only one process evidently drove the precipitation (∼10% of the REP near midnight). We show that the two mechanisms coexist and drive precipitation in a broad
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