Electron precipitation in the post midnight sector of the auroral zones

Technical Report · Tue Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 1975

OSTI ID:7330040

Frank, L A; Saflekos, N A; Ackerson, K L

Comprehensive measurements of the angular distributions and energy spectra of electron intensities with electrostatic analyzer arrays on board the low-altitude satellite Injun 5 are reported. These are for the post-midnight sector of the auroral zones during the high-intensity events accompanying magnetic substorms. Precipitation features on closed terrestrial field lines well equatorward of the trapping boundary for energetic electrons with E greater than 45 keV were examined. No evidences of maxima in the differential energy spectra or of strongly field-aligned currents which are indicative of quasi-static electric fields aligned parallel to the geomagnetic field were found. Precipitation of low-energy electron intensities fluctuated on time scales greater than 2 seconds as viewed at the satellite position. This precipitation was characterized by isotropy for all pitch angles outside the atmospheric backscatter cone. (auth)

• Research Organization: Iowa Univ., Iowa City (USA). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
• OSTI ID: 7330040
• Report Number(s): N-75-24209; NASA-CR-142812
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION
AURORAL ZONES
CHARGED-PARTICLE PRECIPITATION
CURRENTS
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRON DENSITY
ELECTRON PRECIPITATION
ENERGY SPECTRA
FLUCTUATIONS
FLUX DENSITY
INCLINATION
MAGNETIC BAYS
MAGNETIC STORMS
SPECTRA
VARIATIONS