New results of structured VLF emissions observed simultaneously at two closely located stations near L ~ 5.5

Abstract. Simultaneous records of VLF (very low frequencies) emissions have been carried out at two ground-based stations located at similar geomagnetic latitudes near L ~ 5.5 and spaced in the longitude by ~ 400 km, Kannuslehto (KAN) in Finland and Lovozero (LOZ) in Russia, using quite similar VLF receivers with two calibrated orthogonal air-core loop antennas. We found that the general spectral properties of the VLF chorus emissions at these two stations were similar and typically have right-hand polarization. Contrary to VLF chorus, the short-period VLF emissions (periodic emissions, PE) in which separated spectral elements are repeated with the periodicity of 3–4 s were mostly left-hand polarized. Usually, these waves propagated in the north–south direction. We suppose that PEs are generated inside of the plasmasphere by the cyclotron instability under a quasi-linear relaxation of the energetic electron distribution function. However, sometimes PE occurred only at an individual station. We speculated that this could be due to the influence of the local inhomogeneities to the VLF waves during the propagation through the ionospheric trough to the ground. Unusual series of short-duration (10–100 s) bursts of VLF emissions, lasting several hours, were also found in the morning under very quiet geomagnetic conditions (Kp ~ 0–1). Generally, these emissions were observed simultaneously at KAN and LOZ showing both right-hand and left-hand polarization, and different arrival directions provided the rather extended ionospheric exit area.