Simultaneous wave and particle observations in the auroral kilometric radiation source region

Abstract

Simultaneous observations from the topside sounder and the soft particle spectrometer onboard the ISIS 1 satellite reveal that very specific conditions on the local electron density and the energetic electron distributions must both occur in the auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) source region. Such regions are associated with inverted V electron precipitation and with depletions in the local electron density. The electron velocity distribution functions obtained near the inverted V peak were found to increase near several keV energy with increasing velocity as required for plasma instability. The electron density observed near the inverted V peak was too high to support AKR for three events investigated, however, and the AKR source was identified with the edge of the inverted V where the density was low (⩽ 30 cm−3) in each case. Whereas this density depletion can extend deep into the ionosphere (∼ 1500 km altitude), the severe depletion associated with the AKR density cavity is restricted to higher altitudes (> 2750 km for an event studied in detail).