Articles | Volume 43, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-621-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-621-2025
Regular paper
 | Highlight paper
 | 
20 Oct 2025
Regular paper | Highlight paper |  | 20 Oct 2025

Effects of geomagnetic mirror force and pitch angles of precipitating electrons on ionization of the polar upper atmosphere

Tomotaka M. Tanaka, Yasunobu Ogawa, Yuto Katoh, Mizuki Fukizawa, Anton Artemyev, Vassilis Angelopoulos, Xiao-Jia Zhang, Yoshimasa Tanaka, and Akira Kadokura

Download

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-768', Anonymous Referee #1, 23 Apr 2025
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Tomotaka Tanaka, 06 Jun 2025
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-768', Anonymous Referee #2, 30 Apr 2025
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Tomotaka Tanaka, 06 Jun 2025

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (24 Jun 2025) by Minna Palmroth
AR by Tomotaka Tanaka on behalf of the Authors (04 Aug 2025)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (04 Aug 2025) by Minna Palmroth
RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (19 Aug 2025)
RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (27 Aug 2025)
ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (08 Sep 2025) by Minna Palmroth
AR by Tomotaka Tanaka on behalf of the Authors (17 Sep 2025)  Manuscript 
Download
Editor-in-chief
The authors studied the effects of the geomagnetic mirror force on electron density enhancements in the polar atmosphere due to energetic electron precipitation. Considering this phenomenon in simulations this substantially reduced electron density, which was veryfied by observations. This could have wide consequences for the improvement of atmospheric ionization models.
Short summary
The magnetic mirror force bends the orbits of electrons precipitating into the atmosphere. It has been suggested that relativistic electrons make much less ionization due to the force than if it did not exist, but the actual effectivity in the atmospheric electron density has not been revealed. We used conjugated observational data from the ELFIN (Electron Losses and Fields INvestigation) satellite and the EISCAT (European Incoherent SCATter scientific radar system) Tromsø radar to find that the electron density decreased by about 40 % at 80 km altitude because of the force.
Share