Abstract. Auroral hiss is one of the most intense whistler mode plasma wave phenomena observed both on the ground at high latitudes and on spacecraft in the auroral zone. Propagation of auroral hiss from its source region to the ground is poorly understood. The standard whistler mode propagation in a smooth magnetosphere predicts that auroral hiss generated at large wave-normal angles along the auroral field lines by Cerenkov resonance cannot penetrate to the ground. We show that the presence of density depletions along the field lines in the auroral zone and meter-scale density irregularities at altitudes < 5000 km at high latitude permits the auroral hiss propagation to the ground. In our mechanism the auroral hiss generated at high altitudes (> 5000-20,000 km) propagates to lower altitudes (< 3000-5000 km) in two modes: (1) a ducted mode guided by field-aligned density depletions and (2) a nonducted mode. The hiss with large wave-normal angle arriving at < 5000 km altitude is scattered by meter-scale irregularities, and about 0.1% to 10% of the scattered hiss has small wave-normal angles which can penetrate to the ground. Our mechanism explains the following features of auroral hiss observed on the ground: (1) the characteristic spectra of continuous and impulsive auroral hiss, (2) the upper and lower frequency cutoffs, (3) the dispersion of impulsive auroral hiss, (4) the location of ionospheric exit points of auroral hiss with respect to visible aurora, and (5) the 2-5 order of magnitude intensity decrease of auroral hiss observed on the ground relative to that observed on spacecraft. Based on the model presented here, we provide methods to infer parameters of density depletions and intensity of lower hybrid waves stimulated by auroral hiss from the ground measurements of auroral hiss together with optical and radar measurements.

[1] When the Radio Plasma Imager (RPI) on the IMAGE satellite operates in the inner plasmasphere and at moderate to low altitudes over the polar regions, pulses emitted at the low end of its 3-kHz to 3-MHz sounding frequency range can propagate in the whistler mode and/or in the Z mode. During soundings with both 25.6-ms pulses and 3.2-ms pulses, whistler mode echoes have been observed in (1) ''discrete,'' lightning whistlerlike forms and (2) diffuse, widely time spread forms suggestive of mode coupling at the boundaries of density irregularities. Discrete echoes have been observed at altitudes less than %5000 km both inside the plasmasphere and over the auroral and polar regions, being most common inside the plasmasphere. Diffuse echoes have also been observed at altitudes less than 5000 km, being most common poleward of the plasmasphere. Either discrete or diffuse echoes or both have been detected during one or more soundings on at least half of all IMAGE orbits. In regions poleward of the plasmasphere, diffuse Z mode echoes of a kind reported by Carpenter et al. (2003) were found to accompany both discrete and diffuse whistler mode echoes 90% of the time and were also present during 90% of the soundings when no whistler mode echoes were detected. It is proposed that the observed discrete whistler mode echoes are a consequence of RPI signal reflections at the bottom side of the ionosphere and that diffuse whistler mode echoes are a result of scattering of RPI signals by geomagnetic field-aligned electron density irregularities located within 2000 km earthward of the satellite and in directions close to that of the field line passing through IMAGE. Diffuse Z mode echoes are believed to be due to scattering of RPI signals from electron density irregularities within 3000 km of the satellite, particularly those in the generally cross-B direction. Consistent with previous works, our results indicate that the magnetosphere at high latitudes is highly structured, with electron density irregularities that exist over cross-B scales ranging from 10 m to 100 km and that profoundly affect whistler mode propagation. It is demonstrated that both kinds of whistler mode echoes as well as diffuse Z mode echoes have potential for local and remote diagnostics of electron density distributions and structures. , et al. (2004), Diagnostics of magnetospheric electron density and irregularities at altitudes <5000 km using whistler and Z mode echoes from radio sounding on the IMAGE satellite,

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