Radial Gradient of Relativistic Electrons at Geosynchronous Orbit

Details Radial Gradient of Relativistic Electrons at Geosynchronous Orbit Radial Gradient of Relativistic Electrons at Geosynchronous Orbit

May 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agusmsm52a..09o&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2002, abstract #SM52A-09

Physics

2720 Energetic Particles, Trapped

Scientific paper

Relativistic electrons in Earth's radiation belts are highly dynamic, undergoing rapid loss from the magnetosphere on time scales of minutes to hours and being enhanced by orders of magnitude over hours to days. Although numerous processes have been identified that contribute to the loss and acceleration of the relativistic electrons, a quantitative understanding still has not been achieved of which processes dominate under which circumstances. In this paper, we attempt to provide important constraints on the source and loss processes by measuring the radial gradient of phase space density at geostationary orbit. The measurements are made by two GOES satellites located at different longitudes in geostationary orbit. Because Earth's dipole magnetic field is tilted primarily along the longitude of one of the GOES satellites, the two satellites (both of which are located near the geographic equatorial plane) are located at different geomagnetic latitudes. The satellite at the higher geomagnetic latitude measures electrons in a slightly higher L shell. By comparing measurements from the two spacecraft, we are able to estimate the radial gradient of phase space density for constant first and second adiabatic invariants. From the determination of the radial gradient of phase space density, we will be able to constrain the locations relative to geostationary orbit of source and loss processes for the relativistic electrons.

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