Ground-level detection of auroral kilometric radiation

Details Ground-level detection of auroral kilometric radiation Ground-level detection of auroral kilometric radiation

Feb 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011georl..3804104l&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 38, Issue 4, CiteID L04104

Physics

Plasma Physics

1

Ionosphere: Auroral Ionosphere (2704), Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma Waves And Instabilities (2471), Space Plasma Physics: Radiation Processes, Planetary Sciences: Comets And Small Bodies: Plasma And Mhd Instabilities (2149, 2752, 7836), Radio Science: Waves In Plasma (7867)

Scientific paper

The Earth's auroral electrons radiate up to ˜1% of their energy in radio waves, called Auroral Kilometric Radiation (AKR). The emission mechanism, called the electron cyclotron maser (ECM), produces similar emissions at other planets, in the solar atmosphere, and possibly in astrophysical systems such as pulsars and blazars. ECM theory applied to AKR predicts radiation beamed outward that cannot penetrate near the Earth. Nevertheless, over the past several decades there have been occasional reports of AKR-like signals detected at low altitudes. Here we show the first evidence that AKR does indeed penetrate to low altitudes. For three examples of AKR-like emissions detected at South Pole Station, Antarctica, we examined data from the Geotail satellite plasma wave receiver, which had a field of view that included the auroral field lines above the station. The AKR-like emissions detected at ground-level have the same frequency-time structure as simultaneous AKR emissions detected on Geotail 115,000-190,000 km away from the Earth. These first coincident detections of AKR in space and on the ground require the existence of a mechanism to produce the ground-level emissions, suggest that previous AKR-like emissions observed at low altitudes may indeed be AKR, and require revision of the widely-held textbook view that AKR is only detectable from space.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Ground-level detection of auroral kilometric radiation does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Ground-level detection of auroral kilometric radiation, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Ground-level detection of auroral kilometric radiation will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1120414