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A Short-lived Three-Belt Structure for sub-MeV Electrons in the Van Allen Belts: Time Scale and Energy Dependence

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2020ja028031· OSTI ID:1760596
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7]
  1. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
  2. Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AL (Canada)
  3. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Lab. of Atmospheric and Space Physics
  4. Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
  5. The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA (United States). Space Science Applications Lab.
  6. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  7. The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA (United States). Space Science Applications Lab.; Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
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In this study we focus on the radiation belt dynamics driven by the geomagnetic storms during September 2017. Besides the long-lasting three-belt structures of ultrarelativistic electrons (>2 MeV, existing for tens of days), which has been studied intensively during the Van Allen Probe era, it is found that magnetospheric electrons of hundreds of keVs can also have three-belt structures at similar L extent during storm time. Measurements of 500–800 keV electrons from MagEIS instrument onboard Van Allen Probes show double-peaked (L = 3.5 and 4.5, respectively) flux-versus-L-shell profile in the outer belt, which lasted for 2–3 days. During the time interval of such transient three-belt structure, the energy-versus-L spectrogram shows novel distributions differing from both “S-shaped” and “V-shaped” spectrograms reported previously. Such peculiar distribution also illustrates the energy-dependent occurrence of the three-belt profile. Furthermore, the gradual formation of “reversed energy spectrum” at L ~ 3.5 also indicates that hiss scattering inside the plasmapause contributed to the fast decay of sub-MeV remnant belt.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC); NSERC; National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001
OSTI ID:
1760596
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--20-24387
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 125; ISSN 2169-9380
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Heliospheric and magnetospheric physics
electron lifetime
hiss wave
radial transport
storage ring
three-belt structure