Inferring Magnetospheric Heavy Ion Density using EMIC waves

Abstract:

We present a method to infer heavy ion concentration ratios from EMIC wave observations that result from ion-ion hybrid (IIH) resonance. A key feature of the ion-ion hybrid resonance is the concentration of wave energy in a field-aligned resonant mode that exhibits linear polarization. This mode converted wave is localized at the location where the frequency of a compressional wave driver matches the IIH resonance condition, which depends sensitively on the heavy ion concentration. This dependence makes it possible to estimate the heavy ion concentration ratio. In this talk, we evaluate the absorption coefficients at the IIH resonance at Earth's geosynchronous orbit for variable concentrations of He+ and field-aligned wave numbers using a dipole magnetic field. Although wave absorption occurs for a wide range of heavy ion concentrations, it only occurs for a limited range of field-aligned wave numbers such that the IIH resonance frequency is close to, but not exactly the same as the crossover frequency. Using the wave absorption and observed EMIC waves from GOES-12 satellite, we demonstrate how this technique can be used to estimate that the He+ concentration is around 4% near L=6.6