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Creators/Authors contains: "Ma, Qianli"

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  1. Abstract Previous statistical studies have described the distributions and properties of whistler‐mode waves in Jupiter's magnetosphere, but explaining these wave distributions requires modeling wave propagation from their generation near the magnetic equator. In this letter, we conduct ray tracing of whistler‐mode waves based on realistic Jovian magnetic field and density models. The ray tracing results generally agree with the statistical wave distributions based on Juno measurements. The modeled ray paths show that high‐frequency waves generated near the equator are confined within 20° magnetic latitude due to Landau damping, low‐frequency waves can propagate to higher latitudes and lowerM‐shells, with changing wave normal angles, and a portion of low‐frequency waves could propagate to highMshells at high latitudes. Our modeling results provide a theoretical interpretation of whistler‐mode wave distributions and properties, providing essential insights for future radiation belt models at Jupiter. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available March 16, 2026
  2. Abstract Whistler mode waves scatter energetic electrons, causing them to precipitate into the Earth's atmosphere. While the interactions between whistler mode waves and electrons are well understood, the global distribution of electron precipitation driven by whistler mode waves needs futher investigations. We present a two‐stage method, integrating neural networks and quasi‐linear theory, to simulate global electron precipitation driven by whistler mode waves. By applying this approach to the 17 March 2013 geomagnetic storm event, we reproduce the rapidly varying precipitation pattern over various phases of the storm. Then we validate our simulation results with POES/MetOp satellite observations. The precipitation pattern is consistent between simulations and observations, suggesting that most of the observed electron precipitation can be attributed to scattering by whistler mode waves. Our results indicate that chorus waves drive electron precipitation over the premidnight‐to‐afternoon sector during the storm main phase, with simulated peak energy fluxes of 20 erg/cm2/s and characteristic energies of 10–50 keV. During the recovery phase, plume hiss in the afternoon sector can have a comparable or stronger effect than chorus, with peak fluxes of ∼1 erg/cm2/s and characteristic energies between 10 and 200 keV. This study highlights the importance of integrating physics‐based and deep learning approaches to model the complex dynamics of electron precipitation driven by whistler mode waves. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 1, 2025
  3. Auroral precipitation is the second major energy source after solar irradiation that ionizes the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Diffuse electron aurora caused by wave-particle interaction in the inner magnetosphere (L < 8) takes over 60% of total auroral energy flux, strongly contributing to the ionospheric conductance and thus to the ionosphere-thermosphere dynamics. This paper quantifies the impact of chorus waves on the diffuse aurora and the ionospheric conductance during quiet, medium, and strong geomagnetic activities, parameterized by AE <100, 100 < AE < 300, and AE > 300, respectively. Using chorus wave statistics and inner-magnetosphere plasma conditions from Timed History Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) observations, we directly derive the energy spectrum of diffuse electron precipitation under quasi-linear theory. We then calculate the height-integrated conductance from the wave-driven aurora spectrum using the electron impact ionization model of Fang et al. (Geophys. Res. Lett., 2010, 37) and the MSIS atmosphere model. By utilizing Fang’s ionization model, the US Naval Research Laboratory Mass Spectrometer and Incoherent Scattar Radar (NRLMSISE-00) model from 2000s for the neutral atmosphere components, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Full Diffusion Code, we improve upon the standard generalization of Maxwellian diffuse electron precipitation patterns and their resulting ionosphere conductance. Our study of global auroral precipitation and ionospheric conductance from chorus wave statistics is the first statistical model of its kind. We show that the total electron flux and conductance pattern from our results agree with those of Ovation Prime model over the pre-midnight to post-dawn sector as geomagnetic activity increases. Our study examines the relative contributions of upper band chorus (UBC) and lower band chorus wave (LBC) driven conductance in the ionosphere. We found LBC waves drove diffuse electron precipitation significantly more than UBC waves, however it is possible that THEMIS data may have underestimated the upper chorus band wave observations for magnetic latitudes below 65 °
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 13, 2025
  4. We analyze the properties of relativistic (>700 keV) electron precipitation (REP) events measured by the low-Earth-orbit (LEO) POES/MetOp constellation of spacecraft from 2012 through 2023. Leveraging the different profiles of REP observed at LEO, we associate each event with its possible driver: waves or field line curvature scattering (FLCS). While waves typically precipitate electrons in a localized radial region within the outer radiation belt, FLCS drives energy-dependent precipitation at the edge of the belt. Wave-driven REP is detected at any MLT sector and L shell, with FLCS-driven REP occurring only over the nightside–a region where field line stretching is frequent. Wave-driven REP is broader in radial extent on the dayside and accompanied by proton precipitation over 03–23 MLT, either isolated or without a clear energy-dependent pattern, possibly implying that electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves are the primary driver. Across midnight, both wave-driven and FLCS-driven REP occur poleward of the proton isotropic boundary. On average, waves precipitate a higher flux of >700 keV electrons than FLCS. Both contribute to energy deposition into the atmosphere, estimated of a few MW. REP is more associated with substorm activity than storms, with FLCS-driven REP and wave-driven REP at low L shells occurring most often during strong activity (SML* < −600 nT). A preliminary analysis of the Solar Wind (SW) properties before the observed REP indicates a more sustained (∼5 h) dayside reconnection for FLCS-driven REP than for wave-driven REP (∼3 h). The magnetosphere appears more compressed during wave-driven REP, while FLCS-driven REP is associated with a faster SW of lower density. These findings are useful not only to quantify the contribution of >700 keV precipitation to the atmosphere but also to shed light on the typical properties of wave-driven vs FLCS-driven precipitation which can be assimilated into physics-based and/or predictive radiation belt models. In addition, the dataset of ∼9,400 REP events is made available to the community to enable future work. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available November 8, 2025
  5. Abstract Whistler‐mode waves are commonly observed within the lunar environment, while their variations during Interplanetary (IP) shocks are not fully understood yet. In this paper, we analyze two IP shock events observed by Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moons Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) satellites while the Moon was exposed to the solar wind. In the first event, ARTEMIS detected whistler‐mode wave intensification, accompanied by sharply increased hot electron flux and anisotropy across the shock ramp. The potential reflection or backscattering of electrons by the lunar crustal magnetic field is found to be favorable for whistler‐mode wave intensification. In the second event, a magnetic field line rotation around the shock region was observed and correlated with whistler‐mode wave intensification. The wave growth rates calculated using linear theory agree well with the observed wave spectra. Our study highlights the significance of magnetic field variations and anisotropic hot electron distributions in generating whistler‐mode waves in the lunar plasma environment following IP shock arrivals. 
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  6. Abstract The full spatiotemporal distribution of chorus wave‐induced relativistic electron microburst is modeled for chorus waves originated from different L shells and MLTs, based on the newly developed numerical precipitation model (Kang et al., 2022,https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl100841). The wave‐particle interaction process that induces each microburst is analyzed in detail, and its relation to the chorus wave propagation effects is explained. The global distribution of maximum precipitation fluxes and scale sizes of relativistic microbursts is then obtained by modeling chorus waves at different L‐shells and local times. The characteristics of dawn and midnight sector microbursts have little difference, but the noon sector has much larger maximum flux and much smaller full width at half maximum, which may be due to dayside's low electron flux in the Landau resonance range. This suggests the controlling effect of keV electrons on the MeV electron precipitation intensity and properties and the overall relativistic electron loss in the outer radiation belt. 
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  7. Abstract We statistically evaluate the global distribution and energy spectrum of electron precipitation at low‐Earth‐orbit, using unprecedented pitch‐angle and energy resolved data from the Electron Losses and Fields INvestigation CubeSats. Our statistical results indicate that during active conditions, the ∼63 keV electron precipitation ratio peaks atL > 6 at midnight, whereas the spatial distribution of precipitating energy flux peaks between the dawn and noon sectors. ∼1 MeV electron precipitation ratio peaks near midnight atL > ∼6 but is enhanced near dusk during active times. The energy spectrum of the precipitation ratio shows reversal points indicating energy dispersion as a function ofLshell in both the slot region and atL > ∼6, consistent with hiss‐driven precipitation and current sheet scattering, respectively. Our findings provide accurate quantification of electron precipitation at various energies in a broad region of the Earth's magnetosphere, which is critical for magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling. 
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  8. Abstract We investigate the response of outer radiation belt electron fluxes to different solar wind and geomagnetic indices using an interpretable machine learning method. We reconstruct the electron flux variation during 19 enhancement and 7 depletion events and demonstrate the feature attribution analysis called SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) on the superposed epoch results for the first time. We find that the intensity and duration of the substorm sequence following an initial dropout determine the overall enhancement or depletion of electron fluxes, while the solar wind pressure drives the initial dropout in both types of events. Further statistical results from a data set with 71 events confirm this and show a significant correlation between the resulting flux levels and the average AL index, indicating that the observed “depletion” event can be more accurately described as a “non‐enhancement” event. Our novel SHAP‐Enhanced Superposed Epoch Analysis (SHESEA) method can offer insight in various physical systems. 
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  9. Abstract Energetic electron losses by pitch‐angle scattering and precipitation to the atmosphere from the radiation belts are controlled, to a great extent, by resonant wave particle interactions with whistler‐mode waves. The efficacy of such precipitation is primarily modulated by wave intensity, although its relative importance, compared to other wave and plasma parameters, remains unclear. Precipitation spectra from the low‐altitude, polar‐orbiting ELFIN mission have previously been demonstrated to be consistent with energetic precipitation modeling derived from empirical models of field‐aligned wave power across a wide swath of local‐time sectors. However, such modeling could not explain the intense, relativistic electron precipitation observed on the nightside. Therefore, this study aims to additionally consider the contributions of three modifications—wave obliquity, frequency spectrum, and local plasma density—to explain this discrepancy on the nightside. By incorporating these effects into both test particle simulations and quasi‐linear diffusion modeling, we find that realistic implementations of each individual modification result in only slight changes to the electron precipitation spectrum. However, these modifications, when combined, enable more accurate modeling of ELFIN‐observed spectra. In particular, a significant reduction in plasma density enables lower frequency waves, oblique, or even quasi field‐aligned waves to resonate with near ∼1 MeV electrons closer to the equator. We demonstrate that the levels of modification required to accurately reproduce the nightside spectra of whistler‐mode wave‐driven relativistic electron precipitation match empirical expectations and should therefore be included in future radiation belt modeling. 
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  10. In this study, we present simultaneous multi-point observations of magnetospheric oscillations on a time scale of tens of minutes (forced-breathing mode) and modulated whistler-mode chorus waves, associated with concurrent energetic electron precipitation observed through enhanced BARREL X-rays. Similar fluctuations are observed in X-ray signatures and the compressional component of magnetic oscillations, spanning from ∼9 to 12 h in MLT and 5 to 11 inLshell. Such magnetospheric oscillations covering an extensive region in the pre-noon sector have been suggested to play a potential role in precipitating energetic electrons by either wave scattering or loss cone modulation, showing a high correlation with the enhancement in X-rays. In this event, the correlation coefficients between chorus waves (smoothed over 8 min), ambient magnetic field oscillations and X-rays are high. We perform an in-depth quasi-linear modeling analysis to evaluate the role of magnetic field oscillations in modulating energetic electron precipitation in the Earth’s magnetosphere through modulating whistler-mode chorus wave amplitude, resonance condition between chorus waves and electrons, as well as loss cone size. Model results further show that the modulation of chorus wave amplitude plays a dominant role in modulating the electron precipitation. However, the effect of the modulation in the resonant energy between chorus waves and energetic electrons due to the background magnetic field oscillations cannot be neglected. The bounce loss cone modulation, affected by the magnetic oscillations, has little influence on the electron precipitation modulation. Our results show that the low frequency magnetospheric oscillations could play a significant role in modulating the electron precipitation through modulating chorus wave intensity and the resonant energy between chorus waves and electron. 
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