The measurements of chorus emissions by four closely separated Cluster spacecraft provide important information concerning the chorus generation mechanism. They confirm such properties of the wave source as their strong localization near the equatorial cross section of a magnetic flux tube, an almost parallel average wave-vector direction with respect to the geomagnetic field, and an energy flux direction pointing outward from the generation region. Inside this region, Cluster discovered strong temporal and spatial variations in the amplitude with correlation scale lengths of the order of 100 km across the magnetic flux. The wave electric field reached 30 mV/m, and the maximum growth and damping rates are of the order of a few hundreds of s−1. These and other properties of the detected chorus emissions are discussed here in relation with the backward wave oscillator mechanism. According to this mechanism, a succession of whistler wave packets is generated in a small near-equatorial region with temporal and spatial characteristics close to the Cluster data. Amplitudes and frequency spectra, as well as dynamical features of the Poynting flux of chorus are estimated and compared with the Cluster measurements.

We report on simultaneous spacecraft and ground‐based observations of quasiperiodic VLF emissions and related energetic‐electron dynamics. Quasiperiodic emissions in the frequency range 2–6 kHz were observed during a substorm on 25 January 2013 by Van Allen Probe‐A and a ground‐based station in the Northern Finland. The spacecraft detected the VLF signals near the geomagnetic equator in the night sector at L = 3.0–4.2 when it was inside the plasmasphere. During the satellite motion toward higher latitudes, the time interval between quasiperiodic elements decreased from 6 min to 3 min. We find one‐to‐one correspondence between the quasiperiodic elements detected by Van Allen Probe‐A and on the ground, which indicates the temporal nature of the observed variation in the time interval between quasiperiodic elements. Multiсomponent measurements of the wave electric and magnetic fields by the Van Allen Probe‐A show that the quasiperiodic emissions were almost circularly right‐hand polarized whistler mode waves and had predominantly small (below 30°) wave vector angles with respect to the magnetic field. In the probable source region of these signals (L about 4), we observed synchronous variations of electron distribution function at energies of 10–20 keV and the quasiperiodic elements. In the pause between the quasiperiodic elements pitch angle distribution of these electrons had a maximum near 90°, while they become more isotropic during the development of quasiperiodic elements. The parallel energies of the electrons for which the data suggest direct evidence of the wave‐particle interactions is in a reasonable agreement with the estimated cyclotron resonance energy for the observed waves.

[1] We demonstrate the turbulent properties of the high-latitude electric and magnetic fluctuations, observed by the low-altitude polar-orbiting Dynamic Explorer 2 (DE2) satellite, by means of spectrum analysis and examination of the probability density function (PDF) of the fluctuations. To gain insight into the origin of the underlying turbulence, we calculate turbulent field patterns from DE2 observations under different IMF conditions and compare them with the associated patterns of the Birkeland fieldaligned currents (FACs). A clear similarity of these two groups of distributions suggests a close, perhaps cause and effect relationship between the large-scale FACs and turbulent fields. This finding gives more evidence for the association of the turbulence under study and discrete auroral features, which are known to arise in the regions of strong background FACs.Citation: Golovchanskaya, I. V., A. A. Ostapenko, and B. V. Kozelov (2006), Relationship between the high-latitude electric and magnetic turbulence and the Birkeland field-aligned currents,

[1] Chorus emissions are generated by a nonlinear mechanism involving wave-particle interactions with energetic electrons. Discrete chorus wave packets are narrowband tones usually rising (sometimes falling) in frequency. We investigate frequency sweep rates of chorus wave packets measured by the Wideband data (WBD) instrument onboard the Cluster spacecraft. In particular, we study the relationship between the sweep rates and the plasma density measured by the WHISPER active sounder. We have observed increasing values of the sweep rate for decreasing plasma densities. We have compared our results with results of simulations of triggered emissions as well as with estimates based on the backward wave oscillator model for chorus emissions. We demonstrate a reasonable agreement of our experimental results with theoretical ones.Citation: Macúšová, E., et al. (2010), Observations of the relationship between frequency sweep rates of chorus wave packets and plasma density,

[1] Some of the most significant observational indications of self-organized critical (SOC) behavior in the magnetosphere are the scale-free statistical distributions of nighttime auroral emission regions as depicted by the Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) onboard the POLAR spacecraft [Uritsky et al., 2002]. Here, we report the results from a similar study of ground-based optical observations. Individual active auroral regions have been detected and analyzed using a spatiotemporal technique and statistical methods appropriate for quantifying critical behavior in SOC models. Probability distributions of the lifetime, maximum and integrated size, maximum power, and integrated energy output for auroral emission regions are shown to follow power law relations over wide ranges of scales. The powerlaw exponents that we obtained are consistent with the UVI image exponents, extending the range of observed scale-free auroral SOC dynamics by several orders of magnitude to smaller spatial and temporal scales.

[1] The dependence of the frequency spectrum of individual chorus elements on the position of the observation point in and near the generation region is analyzed using recent Cluster data obtained on two different geomagnetically active days. The source of night-side chorus is localized using multicomponent measurements of the wave electric and magnetic fields. We have revealed that the spectrum of the chorus elements lacks the lower frequencies at the center of the source region. One possible explanation of this effect is provided by applying the backward wave oscillator model of chorus generation to these data. According to this model, the chorus frequency is determined by the parallel velocity corresponding to a steplike deformation in the distribution function of resonant electrons. This velocity decreases during the generation of an element as the electrons move through the source region. Thus, only a part of a chorus element is visible inside this region. For the typical case of rising-tone chorus elements, the lower frequencies are generated downstream with respect to the chorus propagation and, hence, disappear as a receiver is moved upstream towards the center of the source region.

Abstract. We present a detailed study of chorus emissions in the magnetosphere detected on board Magion 5, when the satellite was not far from the magnetic equator. We determine the frequency sweep rate of more than 8500 electromagnetic VLF chorus elements. These results are compared with the backward wave oscillator (BWO) regime of chorus generation. Comparison of the frequency sweep rate with the BWO model shows: (i) There is a correlation between the frequency sweep rates and the chorus amplitudes. The frequency sweep rate increases with chorus amplitude, in accordance with expectations from the BWO model; (ii) The chorus growth rate, estimated from the frequency sweep rate, is in accord with that inferred from the BWO generation mechanism; (iii) The BWO regime of chorus generation ensures the observed decrease in the frequency sweep rate of the chorus elements with increasing L-shell.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (VLF emissions, energetic particles) – Space plasma physics (wave-particle interactions)

Abstract. Whistler-mode chorus is a structured wave emission observed in the Earth's magnetosphere in a frequency range from a few hundreds of Hz to several kHz. We investigate wave packets of chorus using high-resolution measurements recorded by the WBD instrument on board the four Cluster spacecraft. A night-side chorus event observed during geomagnetically disturbed conditions is analyzed. We identify lower and upper frequencies for a large number of individual chorus wave packets inside the chorus source region. We investigate how these observations are related to the central position of the chorus source which has been previously estimated from the Poynting flux measurements. We observe typical frequency bandwidths of chorus of approximately 10% of the local electron cyclotron frequency. Observed time scales are around 0.1 s for the individual wave packets. Our results indicate a lower occurrence probability for lower frequencies in the vicinity of the central position of the source compared to measurements recorded closer to the outer boundaries of the source. This is in agreement with recent research based on the backward wave oscillator theory.