ALBERT

Description: [1]  In this study we present 3D data assimilation using CRRES data and 3D Versatile Electron Radiation Belt Model using a newly developed operator-splitting method. Simulations with synthetic data show that the operator-splitting Kalman filtering technique proposed in this study can successfully reconstruct the underlying dynamic evolution of the radiation belts. The method is further verified by the comparison with the conventional Kalman filter. We applied the new approach to 3D data assimilation of real data, to globally reconstruct the dynamics of the radiation belts using pitch-angle, energy, and L-shell dependent CRRES observations. An L-shell time cross-sections of the global data assimilation results for nearly equatorially mirroring particles and high and low values of the first adiabatic invariants clearly show the difference between the radial profiles of phase space density. At μ  = 700 MeV/G cross-section of the global reanalysis shows a clear peak in the phase space density, while at lower energy of 70 MeV/G the profiles are monotonic. Since the radial profiles are obtained from one global reanalysis, the differences in the profiles reflect the differences in the underlying physical processes responsible for the dynamic evolution of the radiation belt energetic and relativistic electrons.

Description: [1]  Accurate knowledge of the global distribution of magnetospheric chorus waves is essential for radiation belt modeling because it provides a direct link to understanding radiation belt losses and acceleration processes. In this paper, we report on newly developed models of the global distribution of chorus amplitudes based on in-situ measurements of IMF and solar wind parameters as well as geomagnetic indices using an artificial neural network technique. We find that solar wind speed and IMF B Z are the most influential parameters that affect the evolution of the magnetospheric chorus. The variations of chorus amplitudes in the outer ( L  ≥ 7) and in the inner (5 ≤  L  〈 7) regions, respectively, are well correlated with the variations of solar wind speed and IMF B Z . In addition, the solar wind parameter-based chorus model generally results in a slightly higher correlation between measured and modeled chorus amplitudes than any other models including geomagnetic indices AE, Kp, and Dst. The developed model shows that the chorus is amplified near the pre-noon sector during the geomagnetically disturbed conditions. With increasing southward IMF B Z the location of peak chorus amplitude moves from the pre-noon sector to the midnight sector, which is due to the enhanced electron injection near midnight. We also present a comparison of diffusive transport simulations for radiation belt electrons interacting with two newly developed chorus models, solar wind parameter-based and geomagnetic index-based chorus models. The comparison between two models shows that the modeling outside the plasmapause can affect the dynamic even inside the plasmasphere because the populations outside the plasmapause can act as seed population to radiation belt particles inside the plasmapause. One weakness of our chorus modeling is that it is trained during the early phase of solar cycle 24 where very few strong storms occurred. Therefore, our model might not be valid in reproducing the chorus activity under extremely disturbed conditions, which should be updated in the future once chorus measurements for such conditions become available.

Description: [1]  An improved dispersion relation, with thermal corrections retained, for parallel propagating electromagnetic waves in a warm plasma is developed for both left-hand (L-) and right-hand (R-) polarized modes. Compared with the cold plasma dispersion relation, the derived dispersion relation is in much better agreement with the full hot plasma dispersion relation (including the wave growth rate). The pitch angle scattering rates of energetic electrons are compared between using cold and full dispersion relation. Significant differences are found when evaluating pitch angle scattering rate of MeV electron caused by He + band waves in multiple ion plasmas. Due to He + ion cyclotron absorption, the He + band EMIC waves, which are able to resonate with MeV electrons (at large wave number), tend to be strongly suppressed. Less significant differences in scattering rate of electrons between using cold and hot dispersion relation are found in the case of L-mode waves in single H + ion plasma, and in the case of R-mode waves.

Description: Abstract Plasmaspheric hiss waves commonly observed in high‐density regions in the Earth's magnetosphere are known to be one of the main contributors to the loss of radiation belt electrons. There has been a lot of effort to investigate the distributions of hiss waves in the plasmasphere while relatively little attention has been given to those in the plasmaspheric plume. In this study, we present for the first time a statistical analysis of the occurrence and the spatial distribution of wave amplitudes and wave normal angles for hiss waves in plumes using Van Allen Probes observations during the period of October 2012 to December 2016. Statistical results show that a wide range of hiss wave amplitudes in plumes from a few pT to 〉 100pT is observed, but a modest (〈 20pT) wave amplitude is more commonly observed regardless of geomagnetic activity in both the midnight‐to‐dawn and dusk sector. By contrast, stronger amplitude hiss occurs preferentially during geomagnetically active times in the dusk sector. The wave normal angles are distributed over a broad range from 0 to 90o with a bimodal distribution: a quasi‐field‐aligned population (〈 20o) with an occurrence rate of 〈 60% and an oblique one (〉 50o) with a relative low occurrence rate of ≲ 20%. Therefore, from a statistical point of view, we confirm that the hiss intensity (a few tens of pT) and field‐aligned hiss wave adopted in previous simulation studies are a reasonable assumption, but stress that the activity‐dependence of the wave amplitude should be considered.

Description: In this study we present calculation of bounce resonance scattering of near-equatorially mirroring electrons by fast magnetosonic waves. We first explore the sensitivity of the scattering rates and estimated time-scales to a different number of resonances included into calculations. We then explore the sensitivity of calculated rates to the assumed wave-normal angle. We also present analysis of the bounce frequencies of electrons and protons are various energies and radial distances and discuss the wave modes that are capable of bounce resonance with these particles. In particular the importance of bounce resonane as a potential mechanism for the radiation belt remediation is discussed.

Description: It has been suggested that the equilibrium structure of the slot region, which separates the inner and outer radiation belts, forms as the result of a balance between inward radial diffusion and pitch angle scattering of relativistic electrons by interactions with three types of whistler mode waves: plasmaspheric hiss, lightening-generated whistlers, and ground-based Very Low Frequency (VLF) transmitters. In this study, using the time-dependent 3D Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB) code, we examine how effectively the slot can be formed by a combination of radial diffusion and pitch angle diffusion, together with Coulomb scattering, and compare the simulations with the CRRES MEA 1 MeV electron observations to examine the viability of the various scattering mechanisms. The results show that the overall time evolution of the observed two-zone structure is in a good agreement with our model simulations, which suggests a balance between inward radial diffusion due to Ultra Low Frequency (ULF) electromagnetic fluctuations and pitch angle scattering due to plasmaspheric hiss and lightning-generated whistlers. However, when inward radial diffusion due to the electrostatic fluctuations is included, agreement between the observed and simulated fluxes becomes weaker, suggesting that it is important to understand and quantify the radial diffusion rates in the slot region.

Description: While the outer radiation belt (3.5 〈 L 〈 8.0) is highly variable with respect to geomagnetic activity, the inner radiation belt (1.2 〈 L 〈 2.0) is relatively stable. Less attention has been paid to the inner electron belt in recent years. It has been generally accepted that the equilibrium structure of radiation belt electrons is explained by the slow inward radial diffusion from a source in the outer belt and losses by Coulomb collision and wave-particle interaction. In this study, we examine this well accepted theory using the radial profiles of the phase space density (PSD), inferred from in situ measurements made by three different satellites: S3–3, CRRES, and POLAR. Our results show that electron PSD in the inner electron belt has a clear prominent local peak and negative radial gradient in the outer portion of the inner zone, i.e., decreasing PSD with increasing L-value. A likely explanation for the peaks in PSD is acceleration due to energy diffusion produced by lightning-generated and anthropogenic whistlers. These results indicate that either additional local acceleration mechanism is responsible for the formation of the inner electron belt or inner electron belt is formed by sporadic injections of electrons into the inner zone. The currently well accepted model of slow diffusion and losses will be further examined by the upcoming Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission.

Description: 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 [ Schulz , 1974] produces excessive loss on the morning and dayside at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) compared to what is observed by a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) satellite. RCM-E simulations with parameterized scattering due to whistler chorus outside the plasmasphere [ Orlova and Shprits , 2014] and hiss inside the plasmasphere [ Orlova et al ., 2014] 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.

Description: The EMFISIS instrument on the Van Allen Probes provides a vast quantity of fully resolved wave measurements below L =5.5, a critical region for radiation belt acceleration and loss. EMFISIS data show that plasmaspheric hiss waves can be observed at frequencies as low as 20 Hz and provide three-component magnetic field measurements that can be directly used for electron scattering calculations. Updated models of hiss properties based on statistical analysis of Van Allen Probes data were recently developed. We use these new models to compute and parameterize the lifetime of electrons as a function of kinetic energy, L -shell, Kp -index, and MLT. We present a detailed analysis of the electron lifetime sensitivity to the model of the wave intensity and spectral distribution. We also compare the results with previous models of electron loss, which were based on single component electric field measurements from the sweep frequency receiver (SFR) onboard the CRRES satellite.

Description: Understanding the dynamics of relativistic electron acceleration, loss, and transport in the Earth's radiation belt during magnetic storms is a challenging task. The U.S. National Science Foundation's Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) has identified five magnetic storms for in-depth study that occurred during the second half of the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) mission in the year 1991. In this study, we show the responses of relativistic radiation belt electrons to the magnetic storms by comparing the time-dependent 3-D Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB) simulations with the CRRES MEA 1 MeV electron observations in order to investigate the relative roles of the competing effects of previously proposed scattering mechanisms at different storm phases, as well as to examine the extent to which the simulations can reproduce observations. The major scattering processes in our model are radial transport due to Ultra Low Frequency (ULF) electromagnetic fluctuations, pitch angle and energy diffusion including mixed diffusion by whistler mode chorus waves outside the plasmasphere, and pitch angle scattering by plasmaspheric hiss inside the plasmasphere. The 3-D VERB simulations show that during the storm main phase and early recovery phase the estimated plasmapause is located deep in the inner region, indicating that pitch angle scattering by chorus waves can be a dominant loss process in the outer belt. We have also confirmed the important role played by mixed energy-pitch angle diffusion by chorus waves, which tends to reduce the fluxes enhanced by local acceleration, resulting in comparable levels of computed and measured fluxes. However, we cannot reproduce the more pronounced flux dropout near the boundary of our simulations during the main phase, which indicates that non-adiabatic losses may extend to L-shells lower than our simulation boundary. We also provide a detailed description of simulations for each of the GEM storm events.