Interplanetary shocks, Plasma waves and turbulence, Kinetic waves and instabilities, STEREO spacecraft
Abstract
Determining the role of plasma waves in providing energy dissipation at shock waves is of long-standing interest. Interplanetary (IP) shocks serve as a large database of low Mach number shocks. We examine electric field waveforms captured by the Time Domain Sampler (TDS) on the STEREO spacecraft during the ramps of IP shocks, with emphasis on captures lasting 2.1 seconds. Previous work has used captures of shorter duration (66 and 131 ms on STEREO, and 17 ms on WIND), which allowed for observation of waves with maximum (minimum) frequencies of 125 kHz (15 Hz), 62.5 kHz (8 Hz), and 60 kHz (59 Hz), respectively. The maximum frequencies are comparable to 2-8 times the plasma frequency in the solar wind, enabling observation of Langmuir waves, ion acoustic, and some whistler-mode waves. The 2 second captures resolve lower frequencies ( few Hz), which allows us to analyze packet structure of the whistler-mode waves and some ion acoustic waves. The longer capture time also improves the resolvability of simultaneous wave modes and of waves with frequencies on the order of 10s of Hz. Langmuir waves, however, cannot be identified at this sampling rate, since the plasma frequency is usually higher than 3.9 kHz. IP shocks are identified from multiple databases (Helsinki heliospheric shock database at http://ipshocks.fi, and the STEREO level 3 shock database at ftp://stereoftp.nascom.nasa.gov/pub/ins_data/impact/level3/). Our analysis focuses on TDS captures in shock ramp regions, with ramp durations determined from magnetic field data taken at 8 Hz. Software is used to identify multiple wave modes in any given capture and classify waves as Langmuir, ion acoustic, whistler, lower hybrid, electron cyclotron drift instability, or electrostatic solitary waves. Relevant frequencies are determined from density and magnetic field data collected in situ. Preliminary results suggest that large amplitude (∼ 5 mV/m) ion acoustic waves are most prevalent in the ramp, in agreement with Wilson, et al. Other modes are also observed. Statistical results will be presented and compared with previous studies and theoretical predictions.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFMSH53B...2C
- Keywords:
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- Shock Waves;
- Interplanetary Shocks;
- Wind spacecraft;
- whistler waves;
- ion acoustic waves