Ksenia Orlova

Effect of EMIC waves on relativistic and ultrarelativistic electron populations: Ground-based and Van Allen Probes observations

We study the effect of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves on the loss and pitch angle scattering of relativistic and ultrarelativistic electrons during the recovery phase of a moderate geomagnetic storm on 11 October 2012. The EMIC wave activity was observed in situ on the Van Allen Probes and conjugately on the ground across the Canadian Array for Real-time Investigations of Magnetic Activity throughout an extended 18 h interval. However, neither enhanced precipitation of >0.7 MeV electrons nor reductions in Van Allen Probe 90° pitch angle ultrarelativistic electron flux were observed. Computed radiation belt electron pitch angle diffusion rates demonstrate that rapid pitch angle diffusion is confined to low pitch angles and cannot reach 90°. For the first time, from both observational and modeling perspectives, we show evidence of EMIC waves triggering ultrarelativistic (~2–8 MeV) electron loss but which is confined to pitch angles below around 45° and not affecting the core distribution.

Activity-dependent global model of electron loss inside the plasmasphere

Using data from the CRRES plasma wave experiment, we develop quadratic fits to the mean of the wave amplitude squared for plasmaspheric hiss as a function of Kp, L, and magnetic latitude (λ) for the dayside (6 < magnetic local time (MLT) ≤ 21) and nightside (21 < MLT ≤ 6) magnetic local time sectors. The empirical model of hiss waves is used to compute quasi-linear pitch angle diffusion coefficients for energetic, relativistic, and ultrarelativistic electrons in the energy range of 1 keV to 10 MeV. In our calculations, we account for changes in hiss wave normal angle and plasma density with increasing λ. Electron lifetimes are then calculated from the diffusion coefficients and parameterized as a function of energy, Kp, and L. Coefficients for both the hiss model and the electron lifetimes are provided and can be easily incorporated into existing diffusion, convection, and particle tracing codes.

Energetic, relativistic, and ultrarelativistic electrons: Comparison of long‐term VERB code simulations with Van Allen Probes measurements

In this study, we compare long-term simulations performed by the Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB) code with observations from the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer and Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope instruments on the Van Allen Probes satellites. The model takes into account radial, energy, pitch angle and mixed diffusion, losses into the atmosphere, and magnetopause shadowing. We consider the energetic (>100 keV), relativistic (~0.5–1 MeV), and ultrarelativistic (>2 MeV) electrons. One year of relativistic electron measurements (μ = 700 MeV/G) from 1 October 2012 to 1 October 2013 are well reproduced by the simulation during varying levels of geomagnetic activity. However, for ultrarelativistic energies (μ = 3500 MeV/G), the VERB code simulation overestimates electron fluxes and phase space density. These results indicate that an additional loss mechanism is operational and efficient for these high energies. The most likely mechanism for explaining the observed loss at ultrarelativistic energies is scattering by the electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves.

Model of lifetimes of the outer radiation belt electrons in a realistic magnetic field using realistic chorus wave parameters

The outer radiation belt electrons in the inner magnetosphere show high variability during the geomagnetically disturbed conditions. Quasi-linear diffusion theory provides both a framework for global prediction of particle loss at different energies and an understanding of the dynamics of different particle populations. It has been recently shown that the pitch angle scattering of electrons due to wave-particle interaction with chorus waves modeled in a realistic magnetic field may be significantly different from those estimated in a dipole model. In this work, we present the lifetimes of 1 keV–2 MeV electrons computed in the Tsyganenko 89 magnetic field model for the night, dawn, prenoon, and postnoon magnetic local time (MLT) sectors for different levels of geomagnetic activity and distances. The lifetimes in the realistic field are also compared to those computed in the dipole model. We develop a realistic chorus lower band and upper band wave models for each MLT sector using the recent statistical studies of wave amplitude, wave normal angle, and wave spectral density distributions as functions of magnetic latitude, distance, and Kp index. The increase of plasma trough density with increasing latitude is also included. The obtained in the Tsyganenko 89 field electron lifetimes are parameterized and can be used in 2-D/3-D/4-D convection and particle tracing codes.

Global empirical models of plasmaspheric hiss using Van Allen Probes

Plasmaspheric hiss is a whistler-mode emission that permeates the Earths plasmasphere and is a significant driver of energetic electron losses through cyclotron resonant pitch angle scattering. The Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science instrument on the Van Allen Probes mission provides vastly improved measurements of the hiss wave environment including continuous measurements of the wave magnetic field cross-spectral matrix and enhanced low-frequency coverage. Here, we develop empirical models of hiss wave intensity using two years of Van Allen Probes data. First, we describe the construction of the hiss database. Then, we compare the hiss spectral distribution and integrated wave amplitude obtained from Van Allen Probes to those previously extracted from the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite mission. Next, we develop a cubic regression model of the average hiss magnetic field intensity as a function of Kp, L, magnetic latitude, and magnetic local time. We use the full regression model to explore general trends in the data and use insights from the model to develop a simplified model of wave intensity for straightforward inclusion in quasi-linear diffusion calculations of electron scattering rates.

New global loss model of energetic and relativistic electrons based on Van Allen Probes measurements

The Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (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 magnetic local time. 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 on board the CRRES satellite.

On the bounce-averaging of scattering rates and the calculation of bounce period

For many applications to planetary magnetospheres and elsewhere in the Universe, it is desirable to average physical quantities such as particle and plasma transport coefficients over a charged particle’s bounce motion between magnetic mirror points along field lines. In this paper, we perform such bounce-averaging in a way that avoids singularities in the integrands of expressions that arise in calculations of this sort. Our method applies in principle to an almost arbitrary magnetic field model. We illustrate the advantage of using our method for removing the integrand’s singularity through a change of variables (rather than by truncating the integral over latitude at points progressively nearer to the mirror point) by computing the 〈Dpp〉 component of the bounce-averaged momentum-space diffusion tensor in a dipolar magnetic field both ways for resonance interaction of geomagnetically trapped relativistic (1 MeV) electrons with field-aligned whistler-mode plasma waves at L = 6 (a field line that passes n...

Topology of High-Latitude Magnetospheric Currents

The structure and localization of high latitude transverse and field-aligned currents are analyzed using the data from the Themis satellite mission. A number of evidences resumed in this paper, including daytime compression of magnetic field lines and the existence of magnetic field minima far from the equatorial plane make necessary to reanalyze the traditional points of view about the topology of high-latitude magnetospheric currents. Comparison between the dayside integral transverse currents at the geocentric distances 7–10R E , calculated assuming the validity of the condition of magnetostatic equilibrium and the nighttime transverse currents, showed that ordinary ring current has the high latitude continuation until geocentric distances ∼10–13R E . The problem of the location of Region 1 field-aligned current of Iijima and Potemra is discussed.

Comparison of simulated and observed trapped and precipitating electron fluxes during a magnetic storm

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 produces excessive loss on the morning and dayside at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) compared to what is observed by a Los Alamos National Laboratory satellite. RCM-E simulations with parameterized scattering due to whistler chorus outside the plasmasphere and hiss inside the plasmasphere 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.

Effect of acceleration and loss rates on time variations in energetic electron fluxes during geomagnetic disturbances

The general properties of the effect of the acceleration and loss rate on the time variations in relativistic electron fluxes have been studied based on the analytical solutions to the nonstationary equation for the particle distribution function, taking into account diffusion in the momentum space (stochastic acceleration) and loss (due to particle escape from the acceleration region). The results of calculating the time variations in the fluxes of electrons with energies of 1 MeV are presented for different ratios of the loss-to-acceleration rates. The cases of instantaneous and prolonged injection of low-energy particles are considered. It has been proposed to estimate the acceleration and loss rate effectiveness based on the observed electron flux decrease rate at the end of the magnetic storm recovery phase.