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Rocket Observation of sub-relativistic electrons in the quiet dayside auroral ionosphere
  • +18
  • Taku Namekawa,
  • Takefumi Mitani,
  • Kazushi Asamura,
  • Yoshizumi Miyoshi,
  • Keisuke Hosokawa,
  • Yasunobu Ogawa,
  • Shinji Saito,
  • Tomoaki Hori,
  • Shin Sugo,
  • Oya Kawashima,
  • Satoshi Kasahara,
  • Reiko Nomura,
  • Naoshi Yagi,
  • Mizuki Fukizawa,
  • Takeshi Sakanoi,
  • Yoshifumi Saito,
  • Ayako Matsuoka,
  • Iku Shinohara,
  • Yury V. Fedorenko,
  • Alexander Nikitenko,
  • Christopher Koehler
Taku Namekawa
University of Tokyo

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Takefumi Mitani
ISAS/JAXA
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Kazushi Asamura
The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
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Yoshizumi Miyoshi
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University
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Keisuke Hosokawa
University of Electro-Communications
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Yasunobu Ogawa
National Institute of Polar Research
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Shinji Saito
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
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Tomoaki Hori
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University
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Shin Sugo
The University of Tokyo
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Oya Kawashima
The University of Tokyo
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Satoshi Kasahara
The University of Tokyo
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Reiko Nomura
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
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Naoshi Yagi
Tohoku University
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Mizuki Fukizawa
Tohoku University
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Takeshi Sakanoi
Tohoku University
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Yoshifumi Saito
Institute of Space & Astronautical Science
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Ayako Matsuoka
Kyoto University
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Iku Shinohara
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
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Yury V. Fedorenko
Polar Geophysical Institute
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Alexander Nikitenko
Polar Geophysical Institute
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Christopher Koehler
University of Colorado Boulder
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Abstract

An energy spectrum of electrons from 180 keV to 550 keV precipitating into the dayside polar ionosphere is observed for the first time by the HEP instrument onboard the RockSat-XN sounding rocket under geomagnetically quiet condition (AE ≤100 nT) at Andøya, Norway. The observed energy spectrum of precipitating electrons follows a power law of -4.86 and the electron flux does not vary much over the observation period (~274.4 seconds). A few minutes before the RockSat-XN observation, POES18 / MEPED observed precipitating electrons, which suggest chorus wave activities at the location close to the rocket trajectory. A ground-based VLF receiver observation at Lovozero, Russia also supports the presence of chorus waves during the rocket observation. A test-particle simulation for wave-particle interactions based on the Arase satellite data shows a similar energy spectrum of precipitating electrons, consistent with the RockSat-XN observation. These results suggest that the precipitation observed by RockSat-XN is likely to be caused by the wave-particle interactions between chorus waves and sub-relativistic electrons.
Jul 2021Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics volume 126 issue 7. 10.1029/2020JA028633