Estimation of Heavy Ion Densities From Linearly Polarized EMIC Waves At Earth

Abstract

Linearly polarized EMIC waves are expected to concentrate at the location where their wave frequency satisfies the ion-ion hybrid (IIH) resonance condition as the result of a mode conversion process. In this letter, we evaluate absorption coefficients at the IIH resonance in the Earth geosynchronous orbit for variable concentrations of helium and azimuthal and field-aligned wave numbers in dipole magnetic field. Although wave absorption occurs for a wide range of heavy ion concentration, it only occurs for a limited range of azimuthal and field-aligned wave numbers such that the IIH resonance frequency is close to, but not exactly the same as the crossover frequency. Our results suggest that, at L = 6.6, linearly polarized EMIC waves can be generated via mode conversion from the compressional waves near the crossover frequency. Consequently, the heavy ion concentration ratio can be estimated from observations of externally generated EMIC waves that have polarization.