Analysis on the relativistic electron precipitation in the midnight sector
Capannolo, Luisa; Li, Wen; Millan, R.; Sample, J.; Shekhar, S.; Sivadas, N.
We analyze the precipitation of relativistic electrons
occurring in the midnight sector, defined over 22–02
MLT. In the nightside, electron precipitation is primarily
driven either by pitch angle scattering from interactions
between electrons and plasma waves or by pitch angle
scattering due to the stretching of magnetic field lines
(also called “current sheet scattering”). We identified
~400 relativistic electron precipitation events and
separated them into wave-driven (REPs) and CSS-driven
(CSSs) events. Although REPs tend to occur at slightly
lower L shells and CSSs are found at marginally higher L
shells, there is not a clear separation in location between
these two precipitation types. Furthermore, we show that
REPs occur on smaller L shell scales at post-midnight and
on wider L shell scales at pre-midnight, suggesting that
the wave driver characteristics vary across midnight.
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