A 2D Kaleidoscope of Electron Heat Fluxes Driven by Auroral Electron Precipitation

Abstract

Abstract Electron heat flux is an important value for ionospheric space weather modeling networks. Utilizing the 2D array of Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms all‐sky‐imager (ASI) observations, Gabrielse et al. (2021, https://doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2021.744298) described a new method that estimates the auroral scale sizes of intense precipitating electron energy fluxes and their mean energies during two substorms on 16 February 2010. These parameters in combination with SuperThermal Electron Transport code were used to develop a new methodology to calculate electron thermal fluxes from data inputs in 2D during one of the substorms at 09:40:00 UT across Canada and Alaska. To test the effect of various precipitation lifetimes on electron heat flux values, boxcar averages ranging from 0 to 900 s were applied to the ASI data. These data are then combined with the newly developed kinetic simulation to determine the thermal fluxes associated with the observed diffuse and discrete precipitation.

Keywords

• electron precipitation in aurora
• electron heat fluxes
• magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling