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Magnetospheric Multiscale Observations of the Source Region of Energetic Electron Microinjections along the Dusk-side, High-latitude Magnetopause Boundary Layer
  • +8
  • Katariina Nykyri,
  • Jay Robert Johnson,
  • Elena A. Kronberg,
  • Drew L. Turner,
  • Simon Wing,
  • Ian James Cohen,
  • Kareem Sorathia,
  • Xuanye Ma,
  • Brandon Lee Burkholder,
  • Geoffrey D. Reeves,
  • Joseph F. Fennell
Katariina Nykyri
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Jay Robert Johnson
Andrews University
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Elena A. Kronberg
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
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Drew L. Turner
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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Simon Wing
Johns Hopkins University
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Ian James Cohen
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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Kareem Sorathia
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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Xuanye Ma
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
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Brandon Lee Burkholder
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
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Geoffrey D. Reeves
Los Alamos National Laboratory (DOE)
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Joseph F. Fennell
The Aerospace Corporation
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Abstract

The present paper demonstrates the first observations by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission of the counter-streaming energetic electrons and trapped energetic protons, localized in the magnetic field depressions between the mirror mode peaks, in the Earth’s dusk sector high-latitude magnetosphere. This region is characterized by high plasma beta, strong ion temperature anisotropy and intermediate plasma density between magnetospheric and magnetosheath plasma. We show that these plasma conditions are unstable for the drift mirror instability. The counter-streaming electron feature resembles those of the previously reported energetic electron microinjections, but without the energy-time dispersion signature. This suggests that MMS is passing through one of the potential microinjection source regions. The energetic ion data in the present study is mainly used to estimate the scale size of the mirror mode structures.