skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: An empirical model of electron and ion fluxes derived from observations at geosynchronous orbit

Abstract

Knowledge of the plasma fluxes at geosynchronous orbit is important to both scientific and operational investigations. We present a new empirical model of the ion flux and the electron flux at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) in the energy range ~1 eV to ~40 keV. The model is based on a total of 82 satellite-years of observations from the Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer instruments on Los Alamos National Laboratory satellites at GEO. These data are assigned to a fixed grid of 24 local-times and 40 energies, at all possible values of Kp. Bi-linear interpolation is used between grid points to provide the ion flux and the electron flux values at any energy and local-time, and for given values of geomagnetic activity (proxied by the 3-hour Kp index), and also for given values of solar activity (proxied by the daily F10.7 index). Initial comparison of the electron flux from the model with data from a Compact Environmental Anomaly Sensor II (CEASE-II), also located at geosynchronous orbit, indicate a good match during both quiet and disturbed periods. The model is available for distribution as a FORTRAN code that can be modified to suit user-requirements.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO (United States)
  2. Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  4. Sellafield Ltd., Seascale (United Kingdom)
  5. SES Engineering, Betzdorf (Luxembourg)
  6. Lancaster Univ., Lancaster (United Kingdom)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1193436
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-20164
Journal ID: ISSN 1542-7390
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Space Weather
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 13; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1542-7390
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES

Citation Formats

Denton, M. H., Thomsen, M. F., Jordanova, V. K., Henderson, M. G., Borovsky, J. E., Denton, J. S., Pitchford, D., and Hartley, D. P. An empirical model of electron and ion fluxes derived from observations at geosynchronous orbit. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1002/2015SW001168.
Denton, M. H., Thomsen, M. F., Jordanova, V. K., Henderson, M. G., Borovsky, J. E., Denton, J. S., Pitchford, D., & Hartley, D. P. An empirical model of electron and ion fluxes derived from observations at geosynchronous orbit. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015SW001168
Denton, M. H., Thomsen, M. F., Jordanova, V. K., Henderson, M. G., Borovsky, J. E., Denton, J. S., Pitchford, D., and Hartley, D. P. 2015. "An empirical model of electron and ion fluxes derived from observations at geosynchronous orbit". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015SW001168. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1193436.
@article{osti_1193436,
title = {An empirical model of electron and ion fluxes derived from observations at geosynchronous orbit},
author = {Denton, M. H. and Thomsen, M. F. and Jordanova, V. K. and Henderson, M. G. and Borovsky, J. E. and Denton, J. S. and Pitchford, D. and Hartley, D. P.},
abstractNote = {Knowledge of the plasma fluxes at geosynchronous orbit is important to both scientific and operational investigations. We present a new empirical model of the ion flux and the electron flux at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) in the energy range ~1 eV to ~40 keV. The model is based on a total of 82 satellite-years of observations from the Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer instruments on Los Alamos National Laboratory satellites at GEO. These data are assigned to a fixed grid of 24 local-times and 40 energies, at all possible values of Kp. Bi-linear interpolation is used between grid points to provide the ion flux and the electron flux values at any energy and local-time, and for given values of geomagnetic activity (proxied by the 3-hour Kp index), and also for given values of solar activity (proxied by the daily F10.7 index). Initial comparison of the electron flux from the model with data from a Compact Environmental Anomaly Sensor II (CEASE-II), also located at geosynchronous orbit, indicate a good match during both quiet and disturbed periods. The model is available for distribution as a FORTRAN code that can be modified to suit user-requirements.},
doi = {10.1002/2015SW001168},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1193436}, journal = {Space Weather},
issn = {1542-7390},
number = 4,
volume = 13,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 35 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Magnetospheric plasma analyzer for spacecraft with constrained resources
journal, April 1993


The three-hour-range index measuring geomagnetic activity
journal, January 1939


A statistical look at plasmaspheric drainage plumes: PLASMASPHERIC DRAINAGE PLUMES
journal, September 2008


Electron loss rates from the outer radiation belt caused by the filling of the outer plasmasphere: The calm before the storm: RADIATION BELT ELECTRON LOSS RATES
journal, November 2009


The superdense plasma sheet: Plasmaspheric origin, solar wind origin, or ionospheric origin?
journal, October 1997


Long-lived plasmaspheric drainage plumes: Where does the plasma come from?: Long-Lived Plasmaspheric Plumes
journal, August 2014


Observations and modeling of magnetic flux tube refilling of the plasmasphere at geosynchronous orbit: Refilling at Geosynchronous Orbit
journal, November 2014


Bulk plasma properties at geosynchronous orbit
journal, January 2005


Transport of plasma sheet material to the inner magnetosphere
journal, January 2007


Compact environmental anomaly sensor (CEASE): a novel spacecraft instrument for in situ measurements of environmental conditions
journal, January 1998


Evolution of plasmaspheric ions at geosynchronous orbit during times of high geomagnetic activity
journal, August 1996


Transport of the plasma sheet electrons to the geostationary distances: TRANSPORT OF PLASMA SHEET ELECTRONS
journal, January 2013


Nowcast model for low-energy electrons in the inner magnetosphere
journal, January 2015


The Van Allen Probes Mission
book, January 2014


Simultaneous remote sensing and in situ observations of plasmaspheric drainage plumes
journal, January 2004


Electron number density, temperature, and energy density at GEO and links to the solar wind: A simple predictive capability
journal, June 2014


Substorms during the 10–11 August 2000 sawtooth event
journal, January 2006


Magnetospheric and auroral activity during the 18 April 2002 sawtooth event
journal, January 2006


An examination of the process and magnitude of ionospheric plasma supply to the magnetosphere
journal, January 2005


Effects of plasma sheet variability on the fast initial ring current decay: EFFECTS OF PLASMA SHEET VARIABILITY
journal, March 2003


Comparative study of ring current development using empirical, dipolar, and self-consistent magnetic field simulations: RING CURRENT AND MAGNETIC FIELD DYNAMICS
journal, December 2010


Excitation of whistler mode chorus from global ring current simulations: GLOBAL SIMULATIONS OF CHORUS WAVES
journal, May 2010


Plasma sheet access to geosynchronous orbit: Generalization to numerical global field models
journal, December 2001


Circulation of Heavy Ions and Their Dynamical Effects in the Magnetosphere: Recent Observations and Models
journal, October 2014


Superposed epoch analysis of a whistler instability criterion at geosynchronous orbit during geomagnetic storms
journal, November 2008


High-speed stream driven inferences of global wave distributions at geosynchronous orbit: relevance to radiation-belt dynamics
journal, May 2010

  • MacDonald, Elizabeth A.; Blum, Lauren W.; Gary, S. Peter
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 466, Issue 2123
  • https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2010.0076

Characterization of geostationary particle signatures based on the ‘Injection Boundary’ Model
journal, January 1983


An optimum solar wind coupling function for the AL index : Optimum AL coupling
journal, April 2015


H + and O + content of the plasma sheet at 15-19 Re as a function of geomagnetic and solar activity : THE PLASMA SHEET H
journal, December 2010


A nearly universal solar wind-magnetosphere coupling function inferred from 10 magnetospheric state variables: UNIVERSAL COUPLING FUNCTION
journal, January 2007


Change of the plasma sheet ion composition during magnetic storm development observed by the Geotail spacecraft: PLASMA SHEET ION COMPOSITION CHANGE DURING STORMS
journal, May 2003


Global view of refilling of the plasmasphere
journal, January 2007


A new international geostationary electron model: IGE-2006, from 1 keV to 5.2 MeV: GEOSTATIONARY ELECTRON MODEL
journal, July 2008


A comprehensive survey of plasmasphere refilling at geosynchronous orbit
journal, November 2001


Why Kp is such a good measure of magnetospheric convection
journal, November 2004


Two-satellite observations of substorm injections at geosynchronous orbit
journal, May 2001


Delivery of cold, dense plasma sheet material into the near-Earth region
journal, January 2003


Free energy to drive equatorial magnetosonic wave instability at geosynchronous orbit: FREE ENERGY FOR MAGNETOSONIC WAVES
journal, August 2011


Study of plasmaspheric evolution using geosynchronous observations and global modeling
journal, March 1997


Exploring sources of magnetospheric plasma using multispecies MHD: PLASMA SOURCES IN BATSRUS
journal, April 2010


Effect of storm-time plasma pressure on the magnetic field in the inner magnetosphere
journal, January 2005


Self-consistent modeling of magnetic fields and plasmas in the inner magnetosphere: Application to a geomagnetic storm
journal, January 2006


Works referencing / citing this record:

Space Weather Effects Produced by the Ring Current Particles
journal, October 2017