Excitation of dayside chorus waves due to magnetic field line compression in response to interplanetary shocks

Abstract

AbstractThe excitation of magnetospheric whistler‐mode chorus in response to interplanetary (IP) shocks is investigated using wave data from the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) spacecraft. As an example, we show a typical chorus wave excitation following an IP shock event that was observed by THEMIS in the postnoon sector near the magnetopause on 3 August 2010. We then analyze characteristic changes during this event and perform a survey of similar events during the period 2008–2014 using the THEMIS and OMNI data set. Our statistical analysis demonstrates that the chorus wave excitation/intensification in response to IP shocks occurs only at high L shells (L > 8) on the dayside. We analyzed the variations of magnetic curvature following the arrival of the IP shock and found that IP shocks lead to more homogeneous background magnetic field configurations in the near‐equatorial dayside magnetosphere; and therefore, the threshold of nonlinear chorus wave growth is likely to be reduced, favoring chorus wave generation. Our results provide the observational evidence to support the concept that the geomagnetic field line configuration plays a key role in the excitation of dayside chorus.