Subpacket structures in EMIC rising tone emissions observed by the THEMIS probes

Abstract

AbstractWe report subpacket structures found in electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) rising tone emissions observed by the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) probes. We investigate three typical cases in detail. The first case shows a continuous single rising tone with four obvious subpackets, and the second case is characterized by a patchy emission with multiple subpackets triggered in a broadband frequency. The third case looks like a smooth rising tone without any obvious subpacket in the fast Fourier transform spectrum, while its amplitude contains small peaks with increasing frequencies. The degree of polarization of each subpacket is generally higher than 0.8 with a left‐handed polarization, and the wave direction of the subpackets is typically field aligned. We show that the time evolution of the observed frequency and amplitude can be reproduced consistently by nonlinear growth theory. We also compare the observed time span of each subpacket structure with the theoretical trapping time for second‐order cyclotron resonance. They are consistent, indicating that an individual subpacket is generated through a nonlinear wave growth process which excites an element in accordance with the theoretically predicted optimum amplitude.