Lightning Generated Whistlers Observed With the CLUSTER Satellites Outside the Plasmasphere

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2730 Magnetosphere: Inner, 2768 Plasmasphere, 3324 Lightning

Scientific paper

Lightning generated whistlers are ubiquitous within the plasmasphere at both high and low altitudes, and these waves can propagate efficiently in both ducted and non-ducted modes. On the other hand, in the magnetospheric region outside the plasmasphere,lightning generated whistlers are commonly observed at low altitudes (< 6000km) but only rarely at higher altitudes near the magnetic equatorial plane. The reasons for the lack of these waves at higher altitudes are not well understood. In the present paper we use data from the Wide Band Plasma (WBD) instruments on the 4 CLUSTER spacecraft to study the characteristics of lightning generated whistlers observed on 4 separate days in 2001 at L shells ranging from L = 4 to L = 5, magnetic latitudes ranging from -20° to 10°, and Kp indexes ranging from 3 to 6. The propagation paths of the lightning generated whistlers are determined using a 2D ray-tracing model to calculate the ray paths and group delays from the lower ionosphere to each of the 4 CLUSTER spacecraft over a range of frequencies (1 kHz < f < 8 kHz). The unprecedented multipoint whistler measurements possible from the 4 CLUSTER spacecraft allow a much more precise determination of the propagation path of the whistlers than was possible in the past using single spacecraft. We compare the characteristics of the CLUSTER whistlers with those commonly observed inside the plasmasphere and delineate the differences in spectra and propagation path. The characteristics of the causative lightning discharges are also compared. On the basis of our study we identify a number of factors that appear to result in the general lack of lightning generated whistler at high altitudes outside the plasmasphere.

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