Abstract Plasmaspheric hiss waves play a key role in scattering energetic electrons and are often modeled in the inner magnetosphere using empirical hiss power maps parameterized by L shell. In this study, we compare the dependence of hiss power on both L shell (2 ≤ L ≤ 6) and the ratio of electron plasma frequency to electron gyrofrequency (ωpe/Ωce) using observations from the Van Allen Probes. The statistical comparison spans a wide range of magnetic local times, frequency bands, and substorm activity levels. Hiss power shows a stronger correlation with ωpe/Ωce than with L shell, especially at low frequencies and during periods of enhanced substorm activity. These results indicate that ωpe/Ωce is a more physically meaningful parameter for describing plasmaspheric hiss and should be considered in radiation belt modeling.
Observations from the Little Bunker
Last updated: August 18, 2025 04:13 PM
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