Van Allen Probes observations of oxygen cyclotron harmonic waves in the inner magnetosphere

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Abstract
Waves with frequencies in the vicinity of the oxygen cyclotron frequency and its harmonics have been regularly observed on the Van Allen Probes satellites during geomagnetic storms. We focus on properties of these waves and present events from the main phase of two storms on 1 November 2012 and 17 March 2013 and associated dropouts of a few MeV electron fluxes. They are electromagnetic, in the frequency range ~0.5 to several Hz, and amplitude ~0.1 to a few nT in magnetic and ~0.1 to a few mV/m in electric field, with both the wave velocity and the Poynting vector directed almost parallel to the background magnetic field. These properties are very similar to those of electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, which are believed to contribute to loss of ring current ions and radiation belt electrons and therefore can be also important for inner magnetosphere dynamics.
Year of Publication
2016
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
43
Number of Pages
8827-8834
Date Published
09/2016
URL
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016GL070233/abstract
DOI
10.1002/grl.v43.1710.1002/2016GL070233
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