Chorus acceleration of radiation belt relativistic electrons during March 2013 geomagnetic storm

Authors

Fuliang Xiao, Changsha University of Science and TechnologyFollow
Chang Yang, Changsha University of Science and TechnologyFollow
Zhaoguo He, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
Zhenpeng Su, University of Science and Technology of China
Qinghua Zhou, Changsha University of Science and Technology
Yihua He, Changsha University of Science and Technology
C A. Kletzing, University of IowaFollow
W. S. Kurth, University of IowaFollow
G. B. Hospodarsky, University of IowaFollow
Harlan E. Spence, University of New HampshireFollow
Geoffrey Reeves, Los Alamos National LaboratoryFollow
H. O. Funsten, Los Alamos National LaboratoryFollow
J. B. Blake, Aerospace CorporationFollow
D. N. Baker, University of Colorado BoulderFollow
J. R. Wygant, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Abstract

Abstract

The recent launching of Van Allen probes provides an unprecedent opportunity to investigate variations of the radiation belt relativistic electrons. During the 17-19 March 2013 storm, the Van Allen probes simultaneously detected strong chorus waves and substantial increases in fluxes of relativistic (2 - 4.5 MeV) electrons around L = 4.5. Chorus waves occurred within the lower band 0.1-0.5f_ce (theelectron equatorial gyrofrequency), with a peak spectral density ∼10^-4 nT ²/Hz. Correspondingly, relativistic electron fluxes increased by a factor of 10²-10³ during the recovery phase compared to the main phase levels. By means of a Gaussian fit to the observed chorus spectra, the drift and bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients are calculated and then used to solve a 2-D Fokker-Planck diffusion equation. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the lower-band chorus waves indeed produce such huge enhancements in relativistic electron fluxes within 15 h, fitting well with the observation. Key Points Initial RBSP correlated data of chorus waves and relativistic electron fluxes A realistic simulation to examine effect of chorus on relativistic electron flux Chorus yields huge increases inelectron flux rapidly, consistent with data.

Department

Physics

Publication Date

5-2014

Journal Title

Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics

Publisher

American Geophysical Union Publications

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1002/2014JA019822

Document Type

Article

Recommended Citation

Xiao, F., et al. (2014), Chorus acceleration of radiation belt relativistic electrons during March 2013 geomagnetic storm, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 119, 3325–3332, doi:10.1002/2014JA019822.

Rights

©2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.