Propagation characteristics of plasmaspheric hiss: Van Allen Probe observations and global empirical models

Abstract

AbstractBased on the Van Allen Probe A observations from 1 October 2012 to 31 December 2014, we develop two empirical models to respectively describe the hiss wave normal angle (WNA) and amplitude variations in the Earth's plasmasphere for different substorm activities. The long‐term observations indicate that the plasmaspheric hiss amplitudes on the dayside increase when substorm activity is enhanced (AE index increases), and the dayside hiss amplitudes are greater than the nightside. However, the propagation angles (WNAs) of hiss waves in most regions do not depend strongly on substorm activity, except for the intense substorm‐induced increase in WNAs in the nightside low L‐region. The propagation angles of plasmaspheric hiss increase with increasing magnetic latitude or decreasing radial distance (L‐value). The global hiss WNAs (the power‐weighted averages in each grid) and amplitudes (medians) can be well reproduced by our empirical models.