ECH wave dispersion - The effects of suprathermal electron distributions

Using experimental wave and particle data from GEOS I, detailed modeling of weak dayside cyclotron harmonic waves shows several features of interest. The predicted temporal growth rates and inferred spatial amplification are very low - as observed. This event is contrasted with a similar study of a strong sporadic event which occurred in the same local time sector and the significance of the differences in the low energy and 'free' energy components of the electron velocity distributions are evaluated and discussed