Electron populations above the nightside auroral oval during magnetic quiet times

Abstract

In several studies of particle morphology above the nightside auroral oval, the electrons have been divided into two separate spatial regions, often called the BPS (from “boundary plasma sheet”) and the CPS (from “central plasma sheet”) (Winningham et al., 1975, J. geophys. Res. 80, 3148). The names were derived from the source regions suggested by Winningham et al. In many cases this classification has worked well, but there are also many cases in which it has not. In this paper an alternative classification is proposed and explored by investigating the spatial distribution of electrons at altitudes between 2000 and 13,500 km, using particle spectrograms from the Viking satellite. A major difference between the newly proposed and the earlier classification is that spatial regions of populations may overlap in this new scheme. Electrons above the auroral oval could be divided into two populations. The first one is spatially unstructured and has a characteristic energy of a few kiloelectron volts. It is usually trapped in its equatorward part, while it is isotropic in its poleward part. The second one is spatially structured and normally has a characteristic energy of 100 eV or less. It is always present when there are signs of electron acceleration along magnetic field lines. The global distributions of both the structured and the unstructured electrons are ring-shaped. The two regions partially overlap, and the average latitude of the structured electrons is higher than the average latitude of the unstructured electrons. The majority of bright auroras appear in the region of overlap. The average poleward edge of the overlap region seems to coincide with the average poleward edge of region 1 field-aligned currents. We suggest that this boundary maps to the boundary between the central plasma sheet and the plasma sheet boundary layer. We also suggest that the sources for the region where only structured electrons are present are the low-latitude boundary layer and plasma sheet boundary layer. The conclusions concerning source regions are supported by mapping of the particle population regions into the equatorial plane of the magnetosphere using the Tsyganenko (1987, Planet. Space Sci. 35, 1347) magnetic field model. The average boundary between region 1 and region 2 field-aligned currents in the afternoon and evening is approximately at the average equatorward boundary of unstructured electrons. Through the midnight, morning and prenoon sectors it is at the average equatorward boundary of structured electrons.