Whistler Mode Wave‐Driven Electron Scattering Properties From ELFIN Measurements of the Precipitation Ratio
Abstract Whistler‐mode chorus and hiss waves play an important role in Earth's radiation belt electron dynamics. Direct measurements of whistler wave‐driven electron precipitation and the resultant pitch angle distribution were previously limited by the insufficient resolution of low Earth orbit satellites. In this study, we use recent measurements from the Electron Losses and Fields INvestigation CubeSats, which provide energy‐ and pitch angle‐resolved electron distributions to statistically evaluate electron scattering properties driven by whistler waves. Our survey indicates that events with increasing precipitating‐to‐trapped flux ratios (evaluated at 63 keV unless otherwise specified) correlate with increasing trapped flux at energies up to ∼750 keV. Weak precipitation events (precipitation ratio <0.2) are evenly distributed, while stronger precipitation events tend to be concentrated at L > 5 over midnight‐to‐noon local times during disturbed geomagnetic conditions. These results are crucial for characterizing the whistler‐mode wave driven electron scattering properties and evaluating its impact on the ionosphere.
Authors
- Qianli Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5452-4756)
- Wen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3495-4550)
- Murong Qin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5770-6261)
- Jiang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7489-9384)
- Luisa Capannolo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1755-9022)
- Anton Artemyev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8823-4474)
- Ethan Tsai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8697-6789)
- Xiaochen Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1743-4262)
- V. Angelopoulos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7024-1561)
- Colin Wilkins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6227-6059)
- Miroslav Hanzelka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9716-5263)
Institutions
- Boston University (US)
- Planetary Science Institute (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CZ)
- GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics
- Published
- 2025-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024ja033363
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.31
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung