Improved Energy Resolution Measurements of Electron Precipitation Observed During an IPDP-Type EMIC Event

Abstract

Abstract

High energy resolution DEMETER satellite observations from the Instrument for the Detection of Particle (IDP) are analyzed during an electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC)-induced electron precipitation event. Analysis of an Interval Pulsation with Diminishing Periods (IPDP)-type EMIC wave event, using combined satellite observations to correct for incident proton contamination, detected an energy precipitation spectrum ranging from ∼150 keV to ∼1.5 MeV. While inconsistent with many theoretical predictions of >1 MeV EMIC-induced electron precipitation, the finding is consistent with an increasing number of experimentally observed events detected using lower resolution integral channel measurements on the POES, FIREBIRD, and ELFIN satellites. Revised and improved DEMETER differential energy fluxes, after correction for incident proton contamination shows that they agree to within 40% in peak flux magnitude, and 85 keV (within 40%) for the energy at which the peak occurred as calculated from POES integral channel electron precipitation measurements. This work shows that a subset of EMIC waves found close to the plasmapause, that is, IPDP-type rising tone events, can produce electron precipitation with peak energies substantially below 1 MeV. The rising tone features of IPDP EMIC waves, along with the association with the high cold plasma density regime, and the rapidly varying electron density gradients of the plasmapause may be an important factor in the generation of such low energy precipitation, co-incident with a high energy tail. Our work highlights the importance of undertaking proton contamination correction when using the high-resolution DEMETER particle measurements to investigate EMIC-driven electron precipitation.