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Ann. Geophys., 16, 1046-1055, 1998
www.ann-geophys.net/16/1046/1998/
© European Geosciences Union 1998
Upward high-energy field-aligned electron beams above the polar edge of auroral oval: observations from the SKA-3 instruments onboard the Auroral Probe (Interball-2)
V. A. Stepanov1, Y. I. Galperin1, A. K. Kuzmin1, F. K. Shuiskaya1, L. S. Gorn2, B. A. Ilyin2, M. V. Iovlev2, A. A. Klimashov2, I. I. Cherkashin2, B. I. Khazanov2, and A. Y. Safronov2
1Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya str., 84/32, Moscow 117810, Russia
2Scientific Engineering Center (SNIIP), Raspletina str., 5, Moscow 123060, Russia
Abstract. A new phenomenon was found at the polar edge
of the auroral oval in the postmidnight-morning sectors: field-aligned (FA)
high-energy upward electron beams in the energy range 20–40 keV at altitudes
about 3RE, accompanied by bidirectional electron FA beams of keV
energy. The beam intensity often reaches more than 0.5·103
electrons/s·sr·keV·cm2, and the beams are observed for a
relatively long time (~3·102–103s), when the satellite at
the apogee moves slowly in the ILAT-MLT frame. A qualitative scenario of the
acceleration mechanism is proposed, according to which the satellite is within a
region of bidirectional acceleration where a stochastic FA acceleration is
accomplished by waves with fluctuating FA electric field components in both
directions.
Key words. Ionosphere (particle acceleration;
wave-particle interactions) · Magnetospheric physics (magnetosphere-ionosphere
interactions)
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