Conjugate ground and multisatellite observations of compression‐related EMIC Pc1 waves and associated proton precipitation

Abstract

We present coordinated ground satellite observations of solar wind compression‐related dayside electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves from 25 September 2005. On the ground, dayside structured EMIC wave activity was observed by the CARISMA and STEP magnetometer arrays for several hours during the period of maximum compression. The EMIC waves were also registered by the Cluster satellites for half an hour, as they consecutively crossed the conjugate equatorial plasmasphere on their perigee passes at L ∼ 5. Simultaneously, conjugate to Cluster, NOAA 17 passed through field lines supporting EMIC wave activity and registered a localized enhancement of precipitating protons with energies >30 keV. Our observations suggest that generation of the EMIC waves and consequent loss of energetic protons may last for several hours while the magnetosphere remains compressed. The EMIC waves were confined to the outer plasmasphere region, just inside the plasmapause. Analysis of lower‐frequency Pc5 waves observed both by the Cluster electron drift instrument (EDI) and fluxgate magnetometer (FGM) instruments and by the ground magnetometers show that the repetitive structure of EMIC wave packets observed on the ground cannot be explained by the ultra low frequency (ULF) wave modulation theory. However, the EMIC wave repetition period on the ground was close to the estimated field‐aligned Alfvénic travel time. For a short interval of time, there was some evidence that EMIC wave packet repetition period in the source region was half of that on the ground, which further suggests bidirectional propagation of wave packets.