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Ann. Geophys., 23, 2953-2959, 2005
www.ann-geophys.net/23/2953/2005/
© European Geosciences Union 2005
Electron pitch angle variations recorded at the high magnetic latitude boundary layer by the NUADU instrument on the TC-2 spacecraft
L. Lu1, S. McKenna-Lawlor2, S. Barabash3, Z. X. Liu1, J. Balaz2, K. Brinkfeldt3, I. Strharsky2, C. Shen1, J. K. Shi1, J. B. Cao1, S. Y. Fu4, H. Gunell2,3, K. Kudela5, E. C. Roelof6, P. C. Brandt6, I. Dandouras7, T. L. Zhang8, C. Carr9, and A. Fazakerley10
1Centre for Space Science and Applied Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
2Space Technology Ireland, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
3Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden
4Beijing University, Beijing, China
5Institute of Experimental Physics, Kosice, Slovakia
6Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA
7Centre d’ Etude Spatialedes Rayonnements Toulouse, France
8Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria
9Imperial College of Science, London, UK
10MSSL, UCL, Holmbury St. Mary, UK
Abstract. The NUADU (NeUtral Atom Detector Unit) experiment aboard TC-2 recorded,
with high temporal and spatial resolution, 4π solid angle images of
electrons (~50-125 keV) spiraling around geomagnetic field lines at
high northern magnetic latitudes (L>10), during its in-orbit commissioning
phase (September 2004). The ambient magnetic field, as well as electrons in
other energy ranges, were simultaneously measured by the TC-2 magnetometer
(FGM), the plasma electron and current experiment (PEACE), the
low energy ion detector (LEID) and the high energy
electron detector (HEED). The NUADU data showed that up-flowing electron
beams could form "ring-like" and "dumbbell-type" pitch angle distributions
(PADs) in the region sampled. Changes in these pitch angle distributions
due to transient magnetic variations are suggested to have been associated
with electron acceleration along the geomagnetic field lines. A nested
magnetic bottle configuration that formed due to the propagation towards
the Earth of a magnetic pulse, is proposed to have been associated with this process.
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