Coherent whistler emissions in the magnetosphere – Cluster observations

Abstract

The STAFF-SC observations complemented by the data from other instruments on Cluster spacecraft were used to study the main properties of magnetospheric lion roars: sporadic bursts of whistler emissions at f∼0. 1–0.2fe where f e is the electron gyrofrequency. Magnetospheric lion roars are shown to be similar to the emissions in the magnetosheath while the conditions for their generation are much less favorable: the growth rate of the cyclotron temperature anisotropy instability is much smaller due to a smaller number of the resonant electrons. This implies a nonlinear mechanism of generation of the observed wave emissions. It is shown that the observed whistler turbulence, in reality, consists of many nearly monochromatic wave packets. It is suggested that these structures are nonlinear Gendrin's whistler solitary waves. Properties of these waves are widely discussed. Since the group velocity of Gendrin's waves is aligned with the magnetic field, these well guided wave packets can propagate through many magnetic "bottles" associated with mirror structures, without being trapped.