Ultralow frequency wave characteristics extracted from particle data: Application of IGSO observations

Interaction between ultralow frequency (ULF) waves and charged particles plays an important role in the acceleration of particles in the Van Allen radiation belts. The strong wave-particle interaction predicts an energy-dependent observational signature of particle flux variations during different stages of the ULF wave evolution. In this paper, we find that the energetic particle data newly available from an IGSO spacecraft are quite consistent with theoretical predictions, which enables the application of a best-fit procedure to quantitatively extract key parameters of the ULF waves from the particle data. The general agreement between observations and the best-fit results validates the scenario of wave-particle drift resonance within the entire ULF life span, and provides a new technique to understand the ULF wave characteristics in the absence of electromagnetic field data. We also examine the minor differences between observations and the best-fit results, and propose that the differences may result from a longitudinal dependence of the ULF wave power to be considered in a future study.     

Test particle simulation on the ion and electron zebra stripes and their time evolution in inner radiation belt

During February 15–16, 2014, the energetic electron spectrogram for four successive inner radiation belt crossing show clearly the electron zebra structures and their time evolution which last for about 17 h. Unfortunately, the time of flight(TOF) in RBSPICE measurement is turned off below 3 RE, and the ion measurement is contaminated by electrons. Thus in this study we studied the differences between the ion and electron zebra stripe structures and their time evolution using simple theory and test particle simulation, combining the electron measurement from RBSIPICE onboard Van Allen Probes. Theoretical analysis predicts that the ion zebra stripe structures should lie at a higher energy range than the corresponding electron zebra stripe structures due to that the directions of gradient B drift and corotation E×B drift are the same for electrons while opposite for ions. Test particle simulation with the dipole magnetic field and Volland-Stern electric field model have shown that the ion and electron zebra stripe structures could be produced by the convection electric field penetrating into the inner magnetosphere in this event, with their time evolution determined by total drift velocity that are different for ions and electrons. The predicted differences between the ion and electron zebra stripe structures are partially verified through observation. The ion zebra stripe structures could have potential influence to the ring current.     

Numerical simulation of magnetospheric ULF waves excited by positive and negative impulses of solar wind dynamic pressure

The sources of ultra low frequency (ULF) waves in the magnetosphere are generally believed to be either the external solar wind perturbations or the internal plasma instabilities. When a sudden impulse of the solar wind dynamic pressure impinges on the magnetopause, ULF waves might be excited and thus the solar wind energy is transported into the earth’s magnetosphere. In this paper, we study the ULF waves excited by different kinds of sudden solar wind pressure impulses through an MHD simulation. We primar...     

Influence of solar wind dynamic pressure on geomagnetic Dst index during various magnetic storms

The Dst index,designed as a proxy of ring current intensity,is known to be also affected by other magnetospheric current systems,e.g.magnetopause current.The pressure-corrected Dst index is obtained by removing the effects of the solar wind dynamic pressure and the quiet time ring current.However,all previous studies treated the correction coefficient as an averaged parameter for storms of different intensity.In this paper,based on the Burton's equations and employing two independent methods,we will show a ...     

An analysis of the correlation between the fluxes of high-energy electrons and low-middle-energy electrons in the magnetosphere

The variation of the flux of energetic electrons in the magnetosphere has been proven to be strongly related to the solar wind speed. Observations of GEO orbit show that the flux of low-energy electrons is not only modulated by the solar wind speed, but, if a time delay is added, is also positively correlated to the flux of high-energy electrons. This feature provides a possible method to forecast the flux of high-energy electrons in GEO orbit. In this study, the correlations of the fluxes between the high-energy electrons and low-middle-energy electrons obtained at different L values and in different orbits are investigated to develop the application of this feature. Based on the analysis of long–term data observed by NOAA POES and GOES, the correlations between the fluxes of high-energy electrons and low–middle–energy electrons are good enough at different L values and in different orbits in quiet time, but this correlation is strongly affected by CME–driven geomagnetic storms.     

Ultra low frequency waves observed by Double Star TC-1 in the plasmasphere boundary layer

The characteristic and properties of ULF waves in the plasmasphere boundary layer during two very quiet periods are present. The ULF waves were detected by Double Star TC-1 when the spacecraft passed through the plasmasphere in an outbound and inbound trajectories, respectively. A clear association between the ULF waves and periodic variations of energetic ions fluxes was observed. The observations showed that the wave frequency was higher inside the plasmasphere than outside. The mechanism generating these ULF waves and possible diagnosing of the “classical plasmapause” location with the ULF wave were discussed. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40504017, 40636031)     

Imaging energetic electron spectrometer onboard a Chinese navigation satellite in the inclined GEO orbit

The energetic electron measurement is one of the most important issues to understand dynamics in space physics and the applications for space weather. In this study, the principle and functional components of the imaging energetic electron spectrometer(IES) onboard a Chinese navigation satellite in the inclined GEO orbit(IGSO) was introduced. The IES instrument is developed by the team in Peking University(BeiDa), thus it is named as BD-IES. Based on the pin-hole technique, the instrument can measure 50–600 keV electrons incident from 9 directions over a range of 180° in polar angle. With pulse height analysis(PHA), the spectrum can be determined for each direction. The energy and angular calibrations were performed, which show the good energy and angular characteristics of BD-IES. Monte Carlo simulations show that the anti-proton design of BDIES can effectively decrease the proton contamination on the electron measurements in the inclined GEO orbit. The primary results of BD-IES verify the successful design of this instrument.     

Ultra low frequency waves impact on radiation belt energetic particles

One of the most fundamental important issues in the space physics is to understand how solar wind energy transports into the inner magnetosphere. Ultra low frequency (ULF) wave in the magnetosphere and its impact on energetic particles, such as the wave-particle resonance, modulation, and particle acceleration, are extremely important topics in the Earth’s radiation belt dynamics and solar wind—magnetospheric coupling. In this review, we briefly introduce the recent advances on ULF waves study. Further, we will explore the density structures and ion compositions around the plasmaspheric boundary layer (PBL) and discuss its possible relation to the ULF waves.     

Multi-satellite observations on the storm-time enhancements of energetic outer zone electron fluxes driven by chorus waves

The evolution of energetic outer zone electron fluxes during the strong magnetic storm on September 28, 2002 is investigated based on the observations of SAMPEX and GOES-10 satellites. The observations of both satellites showed that energetic electron fluxes increased significantly during the storm recovery phase, and reached the maximum on October 6. The 1.5–14 MeV and 2.5–14 MeV electron fluxes observed by SAMPEX peaked around L=3.5 with values of 6×10 2 cm -2 s -1 sr -1 keV -1 and 5×10 3 cm -2 s -1 sr -1...     

Dynamic variations of the outer radiation belt during magnetic storms for 1.5–6.0 MeV electrons

The CME’s structure of solar wind (interplanetary magnetic field) is different from CIR’s. The two processes in which plasma and solar wind energy are injected into the Earth’s inner magnetosphere are not the same. So, the variations of energetic electrons flux in the radiation belts are different between the storms associated with CMEs and CIRs. By using data from SAMPEX (Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer) satellite, we have investigated the dynamic variations of the outer radiation belt for 1.5–6.0 MeV electrons during 54 CME-driven storms and 26 CIR-driven recurrent storms. According to the superposed epoch analysis, for CME- and CIR-driven storms, when the Dst index reaches the minimum, the locations of the outer boundary move to L=4 and L=5.5, respectively. In the recovery phases, the locations of the outer boundary of the outer radiation belt are generally lower than and slightly higher than those before CME- and CIR-driven storms, respectively. We have found that the logarithmically decaying 1/e cut-off L-shell is a satisfying indicator of the outer boundary of the outer radiation belt. Furthermore, our study shows that the logarithmically decaying 1/e cut-off latitude is dependent on the Kp index in the main phases of CME- and CIR- driven storms, while in the recovery phases, there is no obvious correlation. In addition, it has been shown that the locations of the peak electron flux are controlled by the minimum Dst index in the main phases of CME-driven storms. The influences of multiple storms on the electron flux of outer radiation belt have also been investigated.