A Proposal for Modification of Plasmaspheric Electron Density Profiles Using Characteristics of Lightning Whistlers

Abstract

Reconstruction of reliable plasmaspheric electron density profiles is important for understanding physical processes in the plasmasphere. This paper proposes a technique that can be applied to correct the plasmaspheric electron density profiles using ray tracing by scrutinizing dispersion analyses of lightning whistlers. The Global Core Plasma Model and the International Reference Ionosphere were introduced as a reference electron density profile. Modifications of this electron density profile were then proposed to satisfy the dispersion characteristics of lightning whistlers measured by satellites in the plasmasphere. We first introduce two kinds of functions to modify the electron density: constant and linear, the linear function is more adequate. We applied our method to two lightning whistler events on 14 August 2017, measured by the Plasma Wave Experiment/Waveform Capture aboard the Arase satellite, and analyzed the dispersion of the observed lightning whistlers. We show how the density modification affects the delay time of the ray path and satisfies the dispersion characteristics under the appropriate adjustments.