Field-Aligned Electron Density Distribution of the Inner Magnetosphere
Inferred from Coordinated Observations of Arase and Van Allen Probes
Abstract
The RBSP and the Arase satellites have different inclinations and
sometimes they fly both near the equator and off the equator on the same
magnetic field line, simultaneously. Such conjunction events give us
opportunities to compare the electron density at different latitudes. In
this study, we analyzed the plasma waves observed by Arase and RBSP-A or
B during the three conjunction events during and after the 7
Sep 2017 storm event. The electron number density at
the satellite positions were estimated from frequencies of the UHR
emissions obtained by the HFA/PWE onboard the Arase and the Waves
instrument onboard RBSP, respectively. During the three conjunction
events, the satellites passed through the plume, inner trough (the
narrow region with low electron density between main body of the
plasmasphere and the plume), plasmatrough with variable electron
density, and partially-refilled plasmasphere. The power-law index
m for the inner trough and plume was inferred to be
6~8 and ~0, respectively. This is
interpreted to mean that the trough was close to collisionless and the
plume was near diffusive equilibrium. In the plasmatrough with the
varying density, both the high-density and low-density regions had
m~0. The low-density portion of this region may
have a different origin from the inner trough, because of the different
m-indices. For the partially-refilled plasmasphere in the storm
recovery phase, the power-law index m showed negative values,
meaning that the density in the equatorial plane was higher than at
higher latitudes.