On the role of ULF waves in the spatial and temporal periodicity of
energetic electron precipitation
Abstract
Energetic electron precipitation to the Earth’s atmosphere is a key
process controlling radiation belt dynamics and magnetosphere-ionosphere
coupling. One of the main drivers of precipitation is electron resonant
scattering by whistler-mode waves. Low-altitude observations of such
precipitation often reveal quasi-periodicity in the ultra-low-frequency
(ULF) range associated with whistler-mode waves, causally linked to
ULF-modulated equatorial electron flux and its anisotropy. Conjunctions
between ground-based instruments and equatorial spacecraft show that
low-altitude precipitation concurrent with equatorial whistler-mode
waves also exhibits a spatial periodicity as a function of latitude over
a large spatial region. Whether this spatial periodicity might also be
due to magnetospheric ULF waves spatially modulating electron fluxes and
whistler-mode chorus has not been previously addressed due to a lack of
conjunctions between equatorial spacecraft, LEO spacecraft, and
ground-based instruments. To examine this question, we combine
ground-based and equatorial observations magnetically conjugate to
observations of precipitation at the low-altitude, polar-orbiting
CubeSats ELFIN-A and -B. As they sequentially cross the outer radiation
belt with a temporal separation of minutes to tens of minutes, they can
easily reveal the spatial quasi-periodicity of electron precipitation.
Our combined datasets confirm that ULF waves may modulate whistler-mode
wave generation within a large MLT and $L$-shell domain in the
equatorial magnetosphere, and thus lead to significant aggregate
energetic electron precipitation exhibiting both temporal and spatial
periodicity. Our results suggest that the coupling between ULF and
whistler-mode waves is important for outer radiation belt dynamics.