Ion Heating by Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves and Magnetosonic Waves in the Earth's Inner Magnetosphere

Academic Article

Abstract

  • AbstractElectromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves and magnetosonic waves are commonly observed in the Earth's magnetosphere associated with enhanced ring current activity. Using wave and ion measurements from the Van Allen Probes, we identify clear correlations between the hydrogen‐ and helium‐band EMIC waves with the enhancement of trapped helium and oxygen ion fluxes, respectively. We calculate the diffusion coefficients of different ion species using quasi‐linear theory to understand the effects of resonant scattering by EMIC waves. Our calculations indicate that EMIC waves can cause pitch angle scattering loss of several keV to hundreds of keV ions, and heating of tens of eV to several keV helium and oxygen ions by hydrogen‐ and helium‐band EMIC waves, respectively. Moreover, we found that magnetosonic waves can cause the resonant heating of thermal protons. Our study indicates the importance of energy transfer from the EMIC and magnetosonic waves to ions with different species at thermal energies.
  • Authors

  • Ma, Q
  • Li, W
  • Yue, C
  • Thorne, RM
  • Bortnik, J
  • Kletzing, CA
  • Kurth, WS
  • Hospodarsky, GB
  • Reeves, GD
  • Spence, Harlan
  • Status

    Publication Date

  • June 28, 2019
  • Published In

    Keywords

  • Van Allen Probes observation
  • electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves
  • ion heating
  • quasilinear modeling
  • resonant interaction in plasmasphere
  • ring current
  • Digital Object Identifier (doi)

    Start Page

  • 6258
  • End Page

  • 6267
  • Volume

  • 46
  • Issue

  • 12