In this report, we describe the low-energy electron instrument LEPe (low-energy particle experiments-electron analyzer) onboard the Arase (ERG) spacecraft. The instrument measures a three-dimensional distribution function of electrons with energies of ∼ 19 eV-19 keV. Electrons in this energy range dominate in the inner magnetosphere, and measurement of such electrons is important in terms of understanding the magnetospheric dynamics and waveparticle interaction. The instrument employs a toroidal tophat electrostatic energy analyzer with a passive 6-mm aluminum shield. To minimize background radiation effects, the analyzer has a background channel, which monitors counts produced by background radiation. Background counts are then subtracted from measured counts. Electronic components are radiation tolerant, and 5-mm-thick shielding of the electronics housing ensures that the total dose is less than 100 kRad for the one-year nominal mission lifetime. The first in-space measurement test was done on February 12, 2017, showing that the instrument functions well. On February 27, the first all-instrument run test was done, and the LEPe instrument measured an energy dispersion event probably related to a substorm injection occurring immediately before the instrument turn-on. These initial results indicate that the instrument works fine in space, and the measurement performance is good for science purposes.

Plasmaspheric hiss is an important whistler‐mode emission shaping the Van Allen radiation belt environment. How the plasmaspheric hiss waves are generated, propagate, and dissipate remains under intense debate. With the five spacecraft of Van Allen Probes, Exploration of energization and Radiation in Geospace (Arase), and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites missions at widely spaced locations, we present here the first comprehensive observations of hiss waves growing from the substorm‐injected electron instability, spreading within the plasmasphere, and dissipating over a large spatial scale. During substorms, hot electrons were injected energy‐dispersively into the plasmasphere near the dawnside and, probably through a combination of linear and nonlinear cyclotron resonances, generated whistler‐mode waves with globally drifting frequencies. These waves were able to propagate from the dawnside to the noonside, with the frequency‐drifting feature retained. Approximately 5 hr of magnetic local time away from the source region in the dayside sector, the wave power was dissipated to e−4 of its original level.

A stable auroral red (SAR) arc is an aurora with a dominant 630 nm emission at subauroral latitudes. SAR arcs have been considered to occur due to the spatial overlap between the plasmasphere and the ring-current ions. In the overlap region, plasmaspheric electrons are heated by ring-current ions or plasma waves, and their energy is then transferred down to the ionosphere where it causes oxygen red emission. However, there have been no study conducted so far that quantitatively examined plasma and electromagnetic fields in the magnetosphere associated with SAR arc. In this paper, we report the first quantitative evaluation of conjugate measurements of a SAR arc observed at 2204 UT on 28 March 2017 and investigate its source region using an all-sky imager at Nyrölä (magnetic latitude: 59.4°N), Finland, and the Arase satellite. The Arase observation shows that the SAR arc appeared in the overlap region between a plasmaspheric plume and the ring-current ions and that electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves and kinetic Alfven waves were not observed above the SAR arc. The SAR arc was located at the ionospheric trough minimum identified from a total electron content map obtained by the GNSS receiver network. The Swarm satellite flying in the ionosphere also passed the SAR arc at~2320 UT and observed a decrease in electron density and an increase in electron temperature during the SAR-arc crossing. These observations suggest that the heating of plasmaspheric electrons via Coulomb collision with ring-current ions is the most plausible mechanism for the SAR-arc generation. Plain Language Summary A stable auroral red (SAR) arc is an aurora with an optical red emission at latitudes slightly lower than the auroral zone. SAR arcs have been considered to occur due to the spatial overlap between the low-energy plasmaspheric electrons and the high-energy ring-current ions. In the overlap region, plasmaspheric electrons are heated by ring-current ions or plasma waves, and their energy is then transferred down to the upper atmosphere to cause the red emission. However, there have been no study conducted so far that quantitatively examined plasma and electromagnetic fields in the magnetospheric source region of SAR arcs. In this paper, we report the first quantitative evaluation of a SAR arc using an all-sky imager at Nyrölä, Finland, and the Arase satellite. The Arase observation shows that the SAR arc appeared in the overlap region between a plasmaspheric plume and the ring-current ions in the inner magnetosphere. The electromagnetic waves associated with the SAR arc were not observed. These observations suggest that the heating of plasmaspheric electrons by ring-current ions is the most plausible mechanism for the SAR-arc generation. This result provides ©2020. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

The plasmasphere is the innermost region of the Earth's magnetosphere, which is filled with cold (low energy ∼1-10 electron volt (eV) and dense (10-10 4 cm −3)) plasma of ionospheric origin trapped to the Earth's magnetic field, forming a thermal plasma cloud encircling the Earth (Darrouzet et al., 2009b; Lemaire et al., 1998). Outside the plasmasphere, the plasma characteristics change abruptly to tenuous (1 cm −3), hot (high energy ∼100 eV) plasma. The boundary that separates this outer region of the highly energized, low-density plasma from the plasmasphere, is called plasmapause. The plasma motions in the inner magnetosphere are dominated by large scale electric fields. The corotation electric field enforces the corotation of cold plasma near the Earth, and the magnetospheric convection electric field (generated by the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere) causes the loss of cold plasma outside the plasmasphere. The convection electric field, being a key factor for the formation of the plasmapause (Pierrard et al., 2008), the location and sharpness of the plasmapause vary with

Auroral arcs and diffuse auroras are common phenomena at high latitudes, though characteristics of their source plasma and fields have not been well understood. We report the first observation of fields and particles including their pitch‐angle distributions in the source region of auroral arcs and diffuse auroras, using data from the Arase satellite at L ~ 6.0–6.5. The auroral arcs appeared and expanded both poleward and equatorward at local midnight from ~0308 UT on 11 September 2018 at Nain (magnetic latitude: 66°), Canada, during the expansion phase of a substorm, while diffuse auroras covered the whole sky after 0348 UT. The top part of auroral arcs was characterized by purple/blue emissions. Bidirectional field‐aligned electrons with structured energy‐time spectra were observed in the source region of auroral arcs, while source electrons became isotropic and less structured in the diffuse auroral region afterwards. We suggest that structured bidirectional electrons at energies below a few keV were caused by upward field‐aligned potential differences (upward electric field along geomagnetic field) reaching high altitudes (~30,000 km) above Arase. The bidirectional electrons above a few keV were probably caused by Fermi acceleration associated with the observed field dipolarization. Strong electric‐field fluctuations and earthward Poynting flux were observed at the arc crossing and are probably also caused by the field dipolarization. The ions showed time‐pitch‐angle dispersion caused by mirror reflection. These results indicate a clear contrast between auroral arcs and diffuse auroras in terms of source plasma and fields and generation mechanisms of auroral arcs in the inner magnetosphere.