Ducted auroral kilometric radiation

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Abstract
Certain discrete, intense wave signals attributed to auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) were observed with ISEE‐1 while it was within the plasmaspheric shadow zone for direct propagation. It is believed that wave ducting by thin depletions of the plasma density aligned with the magnetic field accounts for such signals, and that their discrete nature is caused by the satellite intercepting individual ducts. These ducts, which were also observed as coincident decreases of the upper‐hybrid resonance frequency, appeared to be twenty‐percent depletions roughly one hundred kilometers across. The AKR, which is emitted approximately perpendicular to the magnetic field, apparently entered these ducts equatorward of the source after the waves had been refracted parallel to the duct axis. A diffuse background was also observed which is consistent with the leakage from similar ducts at lower L‐values. These observations establish the existence of ducted AKR, its signature on the satellite wave spectrograms, and new evidence for depletion ducts within the plasmasphere.