Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsm34a..01h&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SM34A-01
Other
2753 Numerical Modeling, 2774 Radiation Belts, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, 9900 Corrections
Scientific paper
Discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts by instrumentation flown on Explorer 1 in 1958 was the first major discovery of the Space Age. A view of the belts as static inner and outer zones of energetic particles with different sources, a double-doughnut encircling the Earth, became iconic to the point that their dynamic behavior and solar connection receded from public awareness and apparent scientific import. Then the Cycle 23 maximum in solar activity arrived in 1989-1991, the first approaching the activity level of the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, when the Van Allen belts were first discovered. Delay in launch of the NASA-Air Force Combined Radiation Release and Effects Satellite, following the Challenger accident in 1986, led to having the right instruments in the right orbit at the right time to detect prompt injection of outer belt electrons and solar energetic protons into the `slot region' between the inner and outer belts, forming new trapped populations which lasted for years in an otherwise benign location. This event in March 1991, along with the great geomagnetic storm of March 1989, and our increased dependence on space technology since the early Explorer days, led to a resurgence of interest in the Van Allen radiation belts and understanding of their connectivity to the Sun. Additional instrumentation from NASA's International Solar Terrestrial Physics Program, the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX) and IMAGE spacecraft from the Explorer program, NOAA and DOD spacecraft, and improved worldwide linkages of groundbased measurements have contributed much since 1991 to our understanding of the dynamic characteristics of the Van Allen belts. Further, the presence of continuous solar wind measurements beginning with the launch of WIND in 1994, and SOHO images of Coronal Mass Ejections and coronal hole sources of high speed solar wind flow have filled in the connection with solar activity qualitatively anticipated with the choice of solar maximum for the IGY. Still, much remains to be done in terms of predictive capability. The need for such capability gave rise to establishing the National Space Weather Program a decade ago, while the fundamental science questions of solar-terrestrial connectivity remain drivers for NASA's Living With a Star program and other focused projects such as the NSF-sponsored Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling. As measurements of emerging solar active regions have greatly improved, soon to be given a STERIO view, computer modeling capability has developed beyond the wildest expectations of Professor Van Allen and colleagues who launched the first Geiger counter into space on a satellite with no data storage device (once called a tape recorder). Results from recent simulations attempting both to describe particle acceleration processes quantitatively and predict impact on the near Earth space environment will be presented.
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