Shprits Y. Y., A. Kellerman, N. Aseev, A. Y. Drozdov, I. Michaelis, (2017), Multi-MeV electron loss in the heart of the radiation belts, Geophysical Research Letters, 44, 1204-1209, doi:10.1002/2016GL072258

Abstract

Abstract Significant progress has been made in recent years in understanding acceleration mechanisms in the Earth's radiation belts. In particular, a number of studies demonstrated the importance of the local acceleration by analyzing the radial profiles of phase space density (PSD) and observing building up peaks in PSD. In this study, we focus on understanding of the local loss using very similar tools. The profiles of PSD for various values of the first adiabatic invariants during the previously studied 17 January 2013 storm are presented and discussed. The profiles of PSD show clear deepening minimums consistent with the scattering by electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves. Long-term evolution shows that local minimums in PSD can persist for relatively long times. During considered interval of time the deepening minimums were observed around L* = 4 during 17 January 2013 storm and around L* = 3.5 during 1 March 2013 storm. This study shows a new method that can help identify the location, magnitude, and time of the local loss and will help quantify local loss in the future. This study also provides additional clear and definitive evidence that local loss plays a major role for the dynamics of the multi-MeV electrons.

Authors (sorted by name)

Aseev Drozdov Kellerman Michaelis Shprits

Journal / Conference

Geophysical Research Letters

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 Helmholtz Association Recruiting Initiative, NSF GEM AGS‐1203747, NASA grant NNX13AE34G, NASA grant NNX16AF91G, and project PROGRESS funded by EU Horizon 2020 No 637302 and received funding support from the UC Office of the President, UC Lab Fees Research Program grant 12‐LR‐235337.

Grants

12-LR-235337 637302 AGS‐1203747 NNX13AE34G NNX16AF91G

Bibtex

@article{doi:10.1002/2016GL072258,
author = {Shprits, Yuri Y. and Kellerman, Adam and Aseev, Nikita and Drozdov, Alexander Y. and Michaelis, Ingo},
title = {Multi-MeV electron loss in the heart of the radiation belts},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
year = {2017},
volume = {44},
number = {3},
pages = {1204-1209},
keywords = {radiation belts, electron dynamics, atmospheric loss, PSD profiles},
doi = {10.1002/2016GL072258},
url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2016GL072258},
eprint = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2016GL072258},
abstract = {Abstract Significant progress has been made in recent years in understanding acceleration mechanisms in the Earth's radiation belts. In particular, a number of studies demonstrated the importance of the local acceleration by analyzing the radial profiles of phase space density (PSD) and observing building up peaks in PSD. In this study, we focus on understanding of the local loss using very similar tools. The profiles of PSD for various values of the first adiabatic invariants during the previously studied 17 January 2013 storm are presented and discussed. The profiles of PSD show clear deepening minimums consistent with the scattering by electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves. Long-term evolution shows that local minimums in PSD can persist for relatively long times. During considered interval of time the deepening minimums were observed around L* = 4 during 17 January 2013 storm and around L* = 3.5 during 1 March 2013 storm. This study shows a new method that can help identify the location, magnitude, and time of the local loss and will help quantify local loss in the future. This study also provides additional clear and definitive evidence that local loss plays a major role for the dynamics of the multi-MeV electrons.}
}