Using GPS Occultations to Measure Relativistic Electron Precipitation from the Radiation Belts

Details Using GPS Occultations to Measure Relativistic Electron Precipitation from the Radiation Belts Using GPS Occultations to Measure Relativistic Electron Precipitation from the Radiation Belts

Dec 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufmsm51a0512l&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #SM51A-0512

Physics

2716 Energetic Particles, Precipitating, 2720 Energetic Particles, Trapped, 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions, 2794 Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

Precipitating electrons with 1 MeV energy can penetrate to below 60 km in the Earth's atmosphere. There, they produce ionization visible using global positioning satellite (GPS) occultation measurements. When the line of sight from a low-earth orbiting satellite to a GPS satellite passes through the Earth's limb, ionospheric remote sensing of electron densities is possible. The phase and amplitude of GPS signals are affected by changes in the index of refraction as they pass through the ionosphere. Using the Abel inversion technique and assuming spherical geometry, these occultation measurements can be converted into electron density profiles. Density enhancements in the D region of the ionosphere are associated with relativistic electron precipitation from the radiation belts and can be detected using GPS occultation measurements. The Ionospheric Occultation Experiment (IOX) is a dual-frequency GPS receiver with a single Earth-limb viewing antenna. It is one of four experiments to be flown as part of the US Air Force Space Test Program PICOSat mission. The spacecraft is in a 67-degree inclination, 800-km altitude orbit, and has been making measurements at all local times since November 2001. We will present IOX observations from geomagnetically quiet and active periods. These measurements will be compared with in situ observations of relativistic electron precipitation (> 500 keV and > 1 MeV) from the SAMPEX satellite, in order to validate this new method for monitoring losses from the Earth's radiation belts.

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