EMIC Wave Energy Dissipation as a Source of O⁺ Conics and Warm Plasma Cloak in the Earth's Inner Magnetosphere

AbstractThis study focuses on a specific source of the O+ conics and warm plasma cloak in the Earth's inner magnetosphere due to electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) wave energy dissipation. We analyze the EMIC wave event observed by Van Allen Probe‐A in the early afternoon off equatorial magnetosphere on 18 November 2015, where the two dominant EMIC wave bands, He+‐band and H+‐band, were observed for ∼4 min. All the wave and plasma parameters, the DC magnetic field, and ion distributions needed for our analysis are taken from the Van Allen Probe‐A observations during the event. The major results of our analysis are as follows. (a) The H+ and He+ heating by EMIC waves is negligible. (b) A strong heating of O+ by the wave energy dissipation around the third, fifth, and sixth harmonics of the O+ gyrofrequency is revealed, where the majority of energy dissipated goes into heating of O+ with the energies ≲100 eV and pitch angles ∼20°–90°. The estimated energy deposition rate is ∼0.1–3.4 eV/s per O+, totaling to the deposition of ∼20–800 eV per O+ during the event. (c) EMIC waves substantially contribute to the formation of O+ conics and warm plasma cloak by heating the upgoing low‐energy ionospheric O+ because waves heat ions with the energies and pitch angles that are characteristic of conics and warm plasma cloak, and the energy deposition per O+ is comparable to those characteristic energies.