Classification of auroral precipitation fluxes by characteristic parameters and their effects on the coupling of the precipitation to the ambient ionosphere

Abstract

The spectral shapes of the precipitating auroral electron flux spectra are quantified by an automated fitting procedure which represents each flux spectrum as a superposition of Maxwellian and Gaussian partial fluxes. This makes it possible to represent each spectrum by a set of characteristic parameters which describe the shape of that spectrum. A set of inverted-V events observed by the Low-Energy Plasma Instrument on Dynamics Explorer 2 near the fall 1981 equinox, has been analyzed. The distribution of the peak inverted-V energies in magnetic local time and invariant latitude has been obtained, and it is shown that by far the highest peak energies occur in the range 65 < IL < 70 and 18 < MLT < 24 hours. It is also shown how the difference in spectral characteristics of the precipitation fluxes between the cusp and the nighttime auroral zone determines the thermal coupling of the precipitation to the ambient ionosphere.