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Science 8 May 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5928, pp. 775 - 778
DOI: 10.1126/science.1171273
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Reports

An Observation Linking the Origin of Plasmaspheric Hiss to Discrete Chorus Emissions

J. Bortnik,1,* W. Li,1 R. M. Thorne,1 V. Angelopoulos,2 C. Cully,3 J. Bonnell,4 O. Le Contel,5 A. Roux5

A long-standing problem in the field of space physics has been the origin of plasmaspheric hiss, a naturally occurring electromagnetic wave in the high-density plasmasphere (roughly within 20,000 kilometers of Earth) that is known to remove the high-energy Van Allen Belt electrons that pose a threat to satellites and astronauts. A recent theory tied the origin of plasmaspheric hiss to a seemingly different wave in the outer magnetosphere, but this theory was difficult to test because of a challenging set of observational requirements. Here we report on the experimental verification of the theory, made with a five-satellite NASA mission. This confirmation will allow modeling of plasmaspheric hiss and its effects on the high-energy radiation environment.

1 Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
2 Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics/Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
3 Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, SE-751 21, Uppsala, Sweden.
4 Space Science Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
5 Centre d'Etude des Environnements Terrestre et Planétaires, Velizy, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jbortnik{at}gmail.com

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Origin of Plasmaspheric Hiss.
O. Santolik and J. Chum (2009)
Science 324, 729-730
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)