Longitudinal Dependence of Whistler Mode Electromagnetic Waves in the Earth's Inner Magnetosphere

Abstract

Abstract We use the measurements performed by the DEMETER (2004–010) and the Van Allen Probes (2012–016, still operating) spacecraft to investigate the longitudinal dependence of the intensity of whistler mode waves in the Earth's inner magnetosphere. We show that a significant longitudinal dependence is observed inside the plasmasphere on the nightside, primarily in the frequency range 400 Hz to 2 kHz. On the other hand, almost no longitudinal dependence is observed on the dayside. The obtained results are compared to the lightning occurrence rate provided by the Optical Transient Detector/Lightning Imaging Sensor mission normalized by a factor accounting for the ionospheric attenuation. The agreement between the two dependencies indicates that lightning‐generated electromagnetic waves may be responsible for of the observed effect, thus substantially affecting the overall wave intensity in the given frequency range. Finally, we show that the longitudinal dependence is most pronounced for waves with oblique wave of normal angles.