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Signatures of Ultrarelativistic Electron Loss in the Heart of the Outer Radiation Belt Measured by Van Allen Probes

Aseev N. A., Y. Y. Shprits, A. Y. Drozdov, A. C. Kellerman, M. E. Usanova, D. Wang, I. S. Zhelavskaya, (2017), Signatures of Ultrarelativistic Electron Loss in the Heart of the Outer Radiation Belt Measured by Van Allen Probes, J. Geophys. Res. [Space Physics], 122, 10,102-10,111, doi:10.1002/2017JA024485

Abstract

Abstract Up until recently, signatures of the ultrarelativistic electron loss driven by electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves in the Earth's outer radiation belt have been limited to direct or indirect measurements of electron precipitation or the narrowing of normalized pitch angle distributions in the heart of the belt. In this study, we demonstrate additional observational evidence of ultrarelativistic electron loss that can be driven by resonant interaction with EMIC waves. We analyzed the profiles derived from Van Allen Probe particle data as a function of time and three adiabatic invariants between 9 October and 29 November 2012. New local minimums in the profiles are accompanied by the narrowing of normalized pitch angle distributions and ground-based detection of EMIC waves. Such a correlation may be indicative of ultrarelativistic electron precipitation into the Earth's atmosphere caused by resonance with EMIC waves.

Authors (sorted by name)

Aseev Drozdov Kellerman Shprits Usanova Wang Zhelavskaya

Journal / Conference

Journal Of Geophysical Research (Space Physics)

Acknowledgments

The authors used geomagnetic indices provided by OMNIWeb (http://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/form/dx1.html) and are grateful to the RBSP‐ECT team for the provision of Van Allen Probes observations (http://rbsp-ect.lanl.gov/). This research was supported by the Helmholtz‐Gemeinschaft (HGF) [10.13039/501100001656], NSFGEM AGS‐1203747, NASA grant NNX12AE34G, NASA grant NNX16AF91G, and project PROGRESS funded by EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (H2020) [10.13039/100010661] (637302)). The authors are grateful to Sharon Uy for the help with editing the paper. The authors thank anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that helped to improve the manuscript. This work used computational and storage services associated with the Hoffman2 Shared Cluster provided by UCLA Institute for Digital Research and Education's Research Technology Group. The research has been partially funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through grant CRC 1294 “Data Assimilation,” Project B06 Novel methods for the 3‐D reconstruction of the dynamic evolution of the Van Allen belts using multiple satellite measurements. The authors thank the developers of the IRBEM library, which was adapted for use in the current study. The authors thank Geoffrey Reeves for his help on the Van Allen Probe data quality.

Grants

1294 637302 NNX12AE34G NNX16AF91G

Bibtex

@article{doi:10.1002/2017JA024485,
author = {Aseev, N. A. and Shprits, Y. Y. and Drozdov, A. Y. and Kellerman, A. C. and Usanova, M. E. and Wang, D. and Zhelavskaya, I. S.},
title = {Signatures of Ultrarelativistic Electron Loss in the Heart of the Outer Radiation Belt Measured by Van Allen Probes},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics},
year = {2017},
volume = {122},
number = {10},
pages = {10,102-10,111},
keywords = {radiation belts, ultrarelativistic electrons, wave-particle interactions, electron loss, EMIC waves},
doi = {10.1002/2017JA024485},
url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2017JA024485},
eprint = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2017JA024485},
abstract = {Abstract Up until recently, signatures of the ultrarelativistic electron loss driven by electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves in the Earth's outer radiation belt have been limited to direct or indirect measurements of electron precipitation or the narrowing of normalized pitch angle distributions in the heart of the belt. In this study, we demonstrate additional observational evidence of ultrarelativistic electron loss that can be driven by resonant interaction with EMIC waves. We analyzed the profiles derived from Van Allen Probe particle data as a function of time and three adiabatic invariants between 9 October and 29 November 2012. New local minimums in the profiles are accompanied by the narrowing of normalized pitch angle distributions and ground-based detection of EMIC waves. Such a correlation may be indicative of ultrarelativistic electron precipitation into the Earth's atmosphere caused by resonance with EMIC waves.}
}