1,1,3,2,2,4,- 1Department of Physics, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States of America (xjzhang@utdallas.edu)
- 2Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- 3Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, United States of America
- 4Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
- 5Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Diffuse electron precipitation driven by resonant interactions between particles and whistler-mode waves is an important element of magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling and represents a major source of energy input into the nightside ionosphere. Although the majority of the precipitating particle flux is contributed by plasma-sheet electrons with energies below 30 keV, a substantial fraction of the total energy flux can be carried by energetic (30–300 keV) and relativistic (>500 keV) electrons.
In this presentation, we provide a quantitative assessment of this precipitation and its impact on ionospheric ionization. By combining ELFIN and DMSP measurements with an ionization model, we show that at sub-auroral latitudes—particularly during substorm injections—the contribution of whistler-driven energetic electron precipitation can dominate the electron density enhancement in the E and D layers. We further discuss the physical mechanisms that enable whistler-mode waves to effectively scatter and precipitate energetic and relativistic electrons in the vicinity of plasma-sheet injections.
How to cite: Zhang, X.-J., Tonoian, D., Kamaletdinov, S., Artemyev, A., Shen, Y., Liang, J., and Angelopoulos, V.: On the Importance of Whistler-Driven Energetic Electron Precipitation for Magnetosphere–Ionosphere Coupling, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-3268, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3268, 2026.
