First Global Images of Ion Energization in the Terrestrial Foreshock by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS 2020;
47:e2020GL088188. [PMID:
33132458 PMCID:
PMC7583366 DOI:
10.1029/2020gl088188]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2020] [Accepted: 07/19/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission provides global energetic neutral atom (ENA) observations from the heliosphere and the Earth's magnetosphere, including spatial, temporal, and energy information. IBEX views the magnetosphere from the sides and almost always perpendicular to noon-midnight plane. We report the first ENA images of the energization process in the Earth's ion foreshock and magnetosheath regions. We show ENA flux and spectral images of the dayside magnetosphere with significant energization of ENA plasma sources (above ~2.7 keV) in the region magnetically connected to the Earth's bow shock (BS) in its quasi-parallel configuration of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We also show that the ion energization increases gradually with decreasing IMF-BS angle, suggesting more efficient suprathermal ion acceleration deeper in the quasi-parallel foreshock.
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