Evolution of the magnetotail energetic-electron population during high-speed-stream-driven storms: Evidence for the leakage of the outer electron radiation belt into the Earth's magnetotail

Borovsky, Joseph E. and Denton, Michael H. (2011) Evolution of the magnetotail energetic-electron population during high-speed-stream-driven storms: Evidence for the leakage of the outer electron radiation belt into the Earth's magnetotail. Journal of Geophysical Research, 116: A12228. -. ISSN 0148-0227

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Abstract

For 15 high-speed-stream-driven geomagnetic activations (weak storms) in 2006-2007, the temporal behaviors of the outer electron radiation belt at geosynchronous orbit and the energetic-electron population of the magnetotail are compared via superposed-epoch averaging of data. The magnetotail measurements are obtained by using GPS-orbit measurements that magnetically map out into the magnetotail. Four temporal phases of high-speed-stream-driven storms are studied: (1) the pre-storm density decay of the electron-radiation belt, (2) the electron-radiation-belt density dropout near the time of storm onset, (3) the rapid density recovery a few hours after dropout, and (4) the heating of the electron radiation belt during the high-speed-stream-driven geomagnetic activity. In all four phases the behaviors of the outer electron radiation belt and of the energetic-electron population in the magnetotail are the same and simultaneous. The physical explanations for the behavior in phase 1 (decay), phase 2 (dropout), and phase 4 (heating) lie in the dipolar regions of the magnetosphere: hence for those three phases it is concluded that the temporal behavior of the energetic-electron population in the magnetotail mimics the behavior of the outer electron radiation belt. Behavior attributable to physical processes in the dipole is seen in the magnetotail energetic-electron population: this implies that the origin of the energetic-electron population of the magnetotail is "leakage" or "outward evaporation" from the outer electron radiation belt in the dipolar magnetosphere.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Geophysical Research
Additional Information:
©2012. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/core/keywords/physics
Subjects:
?? van-allen radiationsolar-wind streamswave-particle interactionssuperdense plasma sheetrelativistic electronsgeosynchronous orbitmagnetic stormgeomagnetic-fieldinner magnetospheregeospace interactionsphysicsearth and planetary sciences (miscellaneous)geoph ??
ID Code:
52473
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
08 Feb 2012 09:52
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
27 Nov 2023 00:10