VISIONS-2 Observations of Electron Dynamics and Alfvén Waves
Abstract
Results from last year's VISIONS-2 sounding rocket mission to investigate the physics of the cusp are presented and discussed. The focus is on the relationship of the highly-structured, field-aligned, dispersed electron fluxes and the concurrently-measured low frequency electric and magnetic fields, which are taken to be Alfvén waves. The discussion centers on the copious appearance of these phenomena within the VISIONS-2 measurements, and discusses the distinct characteristics of the electron bursts in the context of the waves. Featured are Poynting flux calculations (magnitude and direction) of the waves and a characterization of the wave polarization relative to the direction of the mean plasma flow. Energy analyses of the electrons and waves are used to elucidate their interrelationship, and time-of-flight analyses are used to constrain the interaction domain in the vertical direction.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMSM51D3233C
- Keywords:
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- 3369 Thermospheric dynamics;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 2407 Auroral ionosphere;
- IONOSPHERE;
- 2706 Cusp;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS;
- 2736 Magnetosphere/ionosphere interactions;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS