Chen M. W., C. L. Lemon, K. Orlova, Y. Shprits, J. Hecht, R. L. Walterscheid, (2015), Comparison of simulated and observed trapped and precipitating electron fluxes during a magnetic storm, Geophysical Research Letters, 42, 8302-8311, doi:10.1002/2015GL065737

Abstract

Abstract The ability to accurately model precipitating electron distributions is crucial for understanding magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling processes. We use the magnetically and electrically self-consistent Rice Convection Model-Equilibrium (RCM-E) of the inner magnetosphere to assess how well different electron loss models can account for observed electron fluxes during the large 10 August 2000 magnetic storm. The strong pitch angle scattering rate produces excessive loss on the morning and dayside at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) compared to what is observed by a Los Alamos National Laboratory satellite. RCM-E simulations with parameterized scattering due to whistler chorus outside the plasmasphere and hiss inside the plasmasphere are able to account simultaneously for trapped electron fluxes at 1.2 keV to ~100 keV observed at GEO and for precipitating electron fluxes and electron characteristic energies in the ionosphere at 833 km measured by the NOAA 15 satellite.

Authors (sorted by name)

Orlova Shprits

Journal / Conference

Geophysical Research Letters

Acknowledgments

The simulation data for this study are available upon request. We are grateful to our collaborators R. A. Wolf, F. Toffoletto, S. Sazykin, and J. Yang at Rice University for the use of their portions of the RCM‐E code, and for ongoing discussions of numerical and physical aspects of RCM‐E development. We thank M. Schulz (retired) for helpful discussions on electron pitch angle scattering rates. We used the IRBEM (formerly ONERA) library of magnetic field models, geophysical coordinate transformations, and field line tracing routines. The OMNI data were obtained from the GSFC/SPDF OMNIWeb interface at http://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov. We thank numerous geomagnetic observatories (Kakioka [JMA], Honolulu and San Juan [USGS], Hermanus [RSA], Alibag [IIG], NiCT, INTERMAGNET, and many others) for their cooperation in making the SYM‐H index available. We thank LANL for providing the MPA and SOPA data; the data are available from LANL upon request. The NOAA‐15/TED data are available from http://satdat.ngdc.noaa.gov/sem/poes/data/avg/txt/2000/noaa15/, and we thank NOAA for providing the data. The research at The Aerospace Corporation was supported in part by the Aerospace Technical Investment Program, NASA grant NNX12AD10G, NSF GEM grant AGS1203195, and NASA grant NNX14AF35G.

Grants

AGS1203195 NNX12AD10G NNX14AF35G

Bibtex

@article{doi:10.1002/2015GL065737,
author = {Chen, Margaret W. and Lemon, Colby L. and Orlova, Ksenia and Shprits, Yuri and Hecht, James and Walterscheid, R. L.},
title = {Comparison of simulated and observed trapped and precipitating electron fluxes during a magnetic storm},
year={2015},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
volume = {42},
number = {20},
pages = {8302-8311},
keywords = {ring current electrons, precipitating electrons, magnetic storms, simulations, M-I coupling, electron loss},
doi = {10.1002/2015GL065737},
url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2015GL065737},
eprint = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2015GL065737},
abstract = {Abstract The ability to accurately model precipitating electron distributions is crucial for understanding magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling processes. We use the magnetically and electrically self-consistent Rice Convection Model-Equilibrium (RCM-E) of the inner magnetosphere to assess how well different electron loss models can account for observed electron fluxes during the large 10 August 2000 magnetic storm. The strong pitch angle scattering rate produces excessive loss on the morning and dayside at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) compared to what is observed by a Los Alamos National Laboratory satellite. RCM-E simulations with parameterized scattering due to whistler chorus outside the plasmasphere and hiss inside the plasmasphere are able to account simultaneously for trapped electron fluxes at 1.2 keV to ~100 keV observed at GEO and for precipitating electron fluxes and electron characteristic energies in the ionosphere at 833 km measured by the NOAA 15 satellite.}
}