Energetic particle observations at the subsolar magnetopause

A. A. Eccles (1) , T. A. Fritz (1)

1 CSP - Center for Space Physics [Boston]

The pitch-angle distributions (PAD) of energetic particles are examined as the ISEE-1 satellite crosses the Earth's magnetopause near the subsolar point. The investigation focuses on the possible existence of a particular type of distribution that would be associated with a source of energetic particles in the high-latitude magnetosphere. PADs, demonstrating broad, persistent field-aligned fluxes filling a single hemisphere (upper/northern or lower/southern), were observed just sunward of the magnetopause current layer for an extended period of many minutes. These distributions are a direct prediction of a possible source of energetic particles located in the high altitude dayside cusp and we present five examples in detail of the three-dimensional particle distributions to demonstrate their existence. From these results, other possible causes of such PADs are examined.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de la Terre

A. A. Eccles, T. A. Fritz. Energetic particle observations at the subsolar magnetopause. Annales Geophysicae, 2002, 20 (4), pp.445-460. ⟨hal-00316961⟩