TY - JOUR A1 - Drozdov, Alexander A1 - Allison, Hayley J. A1 - Shprits, Yuri Y. A1 - Usanova, Maria E. A1 - Saikin, Anthony A1 - Wang, Dedong T1 - Depletions of Multi-MeV Electrons and their association to Minima in Phase Space Density JF - Geophysical research letters N2 - Fast-localized electron loss, resulting from interactions with electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves, can produce deepening minima in phase space density (PSD) radial profiles. Here, we perform a statistical analysis of local PSD minima to quantify how readily these are associated with radiation belt depletions. The statistics of PSD minima observed over a year are compared to the Versatile Electron Radiation Belts (VERB) simulations, both including and excluding EMIC waves. The observed minima distribution can only be achieved in the simulation including EMIC waves, indicating their importance in the dynamics of the radiation belts. By analyzing electron flux depletions in conjunction with the observed PSD minima, we show that, in the heart of the outer radiation belt (L* < 5), on average, 53% of multi-MeV electron depletions are associated with PSD minima, demonstrating that fast localized loss by interactions with EMIC waves are a common and crucial process for ultra-relativistic electron populations. KW - radiation belts KW - EMIC KW - VERB KW - PSD Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097620 SN - 0094-8276 SN - 1944-8007 VL - 49 IS - 8 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shprits, Yuri Y. A1 - Allison, Hayley J. A1 - Wang, Dedong A1 - Drozdov, Alexander A1 - Szabo-Roberts, Matyas A1 - Zhelavskaya, Irina A1 - Vasile, Ruggero T1 - A new population of ultra-relativistic electrons in the outer radiation zone JF - Journal of geophysical research : Space physics N2 - Van Allen Probes measurements revealed the presence of the most unusual structures in the ultra-relativistic radiation belts. Detailed modeling, analysis of pitch angle distributions, analysis of the difference between relativistic and ultra-realistic electron evolution, along with theoretical studies of the scattering and wave growth, all indicate that electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves can produce a very efficient loss of the ultra-relativistic electrons in the heart of the radiation belts. Moreover, a detailed analysis of the profiles of phase space densities provides direct evidence for localized loss by EMIC waves. The evolution of multi-MeV fluxes shows dramatic and very sudden enhancements of electrons for selected storms. Analysis of phase space density profiles reveals that growing peaks at different values of the first invariant are formed at approximately the same radial distance from the Earth and show the sequential formation of the peaks from lower to higher energies, indicating that local energy diffusion is the dominant source of the acceleration from MeV to multi-MeV energies. Further simultaneous analysis of the background density and ultra-relativistic electron fluxes shows that the acceleration to multi-MeV energies only occurs when plasma density is significantly depleted outside of the plasmasphere, which is consistent with the modeling of acceleration due to chorus waves. KW - radiation belts KW - ultra-relativistic electrons KW - EMIC waves KW - modeling; KW - plasma density KW - chorus waves Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JA030214 SN - 2169-9380 SN - 2169-9402 VL - 127 IS - 5 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Landis, D. A. A1 - Saikin, Anthony A1 - Zhelavskaya, Irina A1 - Drozdov, Alexander A1 - Aseev, Nikita A1 - Shprits, Yuri Y. A1 - Pfitzer, Maximilian F. A1 - Smirnov, Artem G. T1 - NARX Neural Network Derivations of the Outer Boundary Radiation Belt Electron Flux JF - Space Weather: the international journal of research and applications N2 - We present two new empirical models of radiation belt electron flux at geostationary orbit. GOES-15 measurements of 0.8 MeV electrons were used to train a Nonlinear Autoregressive with Exogenous input (NARX) neural network for both modeling GOES-15 flux values and an upper boundary condition scaling factor (BF). The GOES-15 flux model utilizes an input and feedback delay of 2 and 2 time steps (i.e., 5 min time steps) with the most efficient number of hidden layers set to 10. Magnetic local time, Dst, Kp, solar wind dynamic pressure, AE, and solar wind velocity were found to perform as predicative indicators of GOES-15 flux and therefore were used as the exogenous inputs. The NARX-derived upper boundary condition scaling factor was used in conjunction with the Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB) code to produce reconstructions of the radiation belts during the period of July-November 1990, independent of in-situ observations. Here, Kp was chosen as the sole exogenous input to be more compatible with the VERB code. This Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite-era reconstruction showcases the potential to use these neural network-derived boundary conditions as a method of hindcasting the historical radiation belts. This study serves as a companion paper to another recently published study on reconstructing the radiation belts during Solar Cycles 17-24 (Saikin et al., 2021, ), for which the results featured in this paper were used. KW - radiation belts KW - forecasting (1922, 4315, 7924, 7964) KW - machine learning (0555) Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2021SW002774 SN - 1542-7390 VL - 20 IS - 5 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Smirnov, Artem A1 - Shprits, Yuri Y. A1 - Allison, Hayley A1 - Aseev, Nikita A1 - Drozdov, Alexander A1 - Kollmann, Peter A1 - Wang, Dedong A1 - Saikin, Anthony T1 - Storm-Time evolution of the Equatorial Electron Pitch Angle Distributions in Earth's Outer Radiation Belt JF - Frontiers in astronomy and space sciences N2 - In this study we analyze the storm-time evolution of equatorial electron pitch angle distributions (PADs) in the outer radiation belt region using observations from the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) instrument aboard the Van Allen Probes in 2012-2019. The PADs are approximated using a sum of the first, third and fifth sine harmonics. Different combinations of the respective coefficients refer to the main PAD shapes within the outer radiation belt, namely the pancake, flat-top, butterfly and cap PADs. We conduct a superposed epoch analysis of 129 geomagnetic storms and analyze the PAD evolution for day and night MLT sectors. PAD shapes exhibit a strong energy-dependent response. At energies of tens of keV, the PADs exhibit little variation throughout geomagnetic storms. Cap PADs are mainly observed at energies < 300 keV, and their extent in L shrinks with increasing energy. The cap distributions transform into the pancake PADs around the main phase of the storm on the nightside, and then come back to their original shapes during the recovery phase. At higher energies on the dayside, the PADs are mainly pancake during pre-storm conditions and become more anisotropic during the main phase. The quiet-time butterfly PADs can be observed on the nightside at L> 5.6. During the main phase, butterfly PADs have stronger 90 degrees-minima and can be observed at lower L-shells (down to L = 5), then transitioning into flat-top PADs at L similar to 4.5 - 5 and pancake PADs at L < 4.5. The resulting PAD coefficients for different energies, locations and storm epochs can be used to test the wave models and physics-based radiation belt codes in terms of pitch angle distributions. KW - pitch angle KW - pitch angle distributions KW - electrons KW - radiation belts KW - magnetosphere KW - van alien probes Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2022.836811 SN - 2296-987X VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - THES A1 - Smirnov, Artem T1 - Understanding the dynamics of the near-earth space environment utilizing long-term satellite observations T1 - Verständnis der Dynamik der erdnahen Weltraumumgebung mit Hilfe von Langzeit-Satellitenbeobachtungen N2 - The near-Earth space environment is a highly complex system comprised of several regions and particle populations hazardous to satellite operations. The trapped particles in the radiation belts and ring current can cause significant damage to satellites during space weather events, due to deep dielectric and surface charging. Closer to Earth is another important region, the ionosphere, which delays the propagation of radio signals and can adversely affect navigation and positioning. In response to fluctuations in solar and geomagnetic activity, both the inner-magnetospheric and ionospheric populations can undergo drastic and sudden changes within minutes to hours, which creates a challenge for predicting their behavior. Given the increasing reliance of our society on satellite technology, improving our understanding and modeling of these populations is a matter of paramount importance. In recent years, numerous spacecraft have been launched to study the dynamics of particle populations in the near-Earth space, transforming it into a data-rich environment. To extract valuable insights from the abundance of available observations, it is crucial to employ advanced modeling techniques, and machine learning methods are among the most powerful approaches available. This dissertation employs long-term satellite observations to analyze the processes that drive particle dynamics, and builds interdisciplinary links between space physics and machine learning by developing new state-of-the-art models of the inner-magnetospheric and ionospheric particle dynamics. The first aim of this thesis is to investigate the behavior of electrons in Earth's radiation belts and ring current. Using ~18 years of electron flux observations from the Global Positioning System (GPS), we developed the first machine learning model of hundreds-of-keV electron flux at Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) that is driven solely by solar wind and geomagnetic indices and does not require auxiliary flux measurements as inputs. We then proceeded to analyze the directional distributions of electrons, and for the first time, used Fourier sine series to fit electron pitch angle distributions (PADs) in Earth's inner magnetosphere. We performed a superposed epoch analysis of 129 geomagnetic storms during the Van Allen Probes era and demonstrated that electron PADs have a strong energy-dependent response to geomagnetic activity. Additionally, we showed that the solar wind dynamic pressure could be used as a good predictor of the PAD dynamics. Using the observed dependencies, we created the first PAD model with a continuous dependence on L, magnetic local time (MLT) and activity, and developed two techniques to reconstruct near-equatorial electron flux observations from low-PA data using this model. The second objective of this thesis is to develop a novel model of the topside ionosphere. To achieve this goal, we collected observations from five of the most widely used ionospheric missions and intercalibrated these data sets. This allowed us to use these data jointly for model development, validation, and comparison with other existing empirical models. We demonstrated, for the first time, that ion density observations by Swarm Langmuir Probes exhibit overestimation (up to ~40-50%) at low and mid-latitudes on the night side, and suggested that the influence of light ions could be a potential cause of this overestimation. To develop the topside model, we used 19 years of radio occultation (RO) electron density profiles, which were fitted with a Chapman function with a linear dependence of scale height on altitude. This approximation yields 4 parameters, namely the peak density and height of the F2-layer and the slope and intercept of the linear scale height trend, which were modeled using feedforward neural networks (NNs). The model was extensively validated against both RO and in-situ observations and was found to outperform the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model by up to an order of magnitude. Our analysis showed that the most substantial deviations of the IRI model from the data occur at altitudes of 100-200 km above the F2-layer peak. The developed NN-based ionospheric model reproduces the effects of various physical mechanisms observed in the topside ionosphere and provides highly accurate electron density predictions. This dissertation provides an extensive study of geospace dynamics, and the main results of this work contribute to the improvement of models of plasma populations in the near-Earth space environment. N2 - Die erdnahe Weltraumumgebung ist ein hochkomplexes System, das aus mehreren Regionen und Partikelpopulationen besteht, die für den Satellitenbetrieb gefährlich sind. Die in den Strahlungsgürteln und dem Ringstrom gefangenen Teilchen können bei Weltraumwetterereignissen aufgrund der tiefen dielektrischen und oberflächlichen Aufladung erhebliche Schäden an Satelliten verursachen. Näher an der Erde liegt eine weitere wichtige Region, die Ionosphäre, die die Ausbreitung von Funksignalen verzögert und die Navigation und Positionsbestimmung beeinträchtigen kann. Als Reaktion auf Fluktuationen der solaren und geomagnetischen Aktivität können sowohl die Populationen der inneren Magnetosphäre als auch der Ionosphäre innerhalb von Minuten bis Stunden drastische und plötzliche Veränderungen erfahren, was eine Herausforderung für die Vorhersage ihres Verhaltens darstellt. Angesichts der zunehmenden Abhängigkeit unserer Gesellschaft von der Satellitentechnologie ist ein besseres Verständnis und eine bessere Modellierung dieser Populationen von größter Bedeutung. In den letzten Jahren wurden zahlreiche Raumsonden gestartet, um die Dynamik von Partikelpopulationen im erdnahen Weltraum zu untersuchen, was diesen in eine datenreiche Umgebung verwandelt hat. Um aus der Fülle der verfügbaren Beobachtungen wertvolle Erkenntnisse zu gewinnen, ist der Einsatz fortschrittlicher Modellierungstechniken unabdingbar, und Methoden des maschinellen Lernens gehören zu den leistungsfähigsten verfügbaren Ansätzen. Diese Dissertation nutzt langfristige Satellitenbeobachtungen, um die Prozesse zu analysieren, die die Teilchendynamik antreiben, und schafft interdisziplinäre Verbindungen zwischen Weltraumphysik und maschinellem Lernen, indem sie neue hochmoderne Modelle der innermagnetosphärischen und ionosphärischen Teilchendynamik entwickelt. Das erste Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, das Verhalten von Elektronen im Strahlungsgürtel und Ringstrom der Erde zu untersuchen. Unter Verwendung von ~18 Jahren Elektronenflussbeobachtungen des Global Positioning System (GPS) haben wir das erste maschinelle Lernmodell des Elektronenflusses im mittleren Erdorbit (MEO) entwickelt, das ausschließlich durch Sonnenwind und geomagnetische Indizes gesteuert wird und keine zusätzlichen Flussmessungen als Eingaben benötigt. Anschließend analysierten wir die Richtungsverteilungen der Elektronen und verwendeten zum ersten Mal Fourier-Sinus-Reihen, um die Elektronen-Stellwinkelverteilungen (PADs) in der inneren Magnetosphäre der Erde zu bestimmen. Wir führten eine epochenübergreifende Analyse von 129 geomagnetischen Stürmen während der Van-Allen-Sonden-Ära durch und zeigten, dass die Elektronen-PADs eine starke energieabhängige Reaktion auf die geomagnetische Aktivität haben. Außerdem konnten wir zeigen, dass der dynamische Druck des Sonnenwindes als guter Prädiktor für die PAD-Dynamik verwendet werden kann. Anhand der beobachteten Abhängigkeiten haben wir das erste PAD-Modell mit einer kontinuierlichen Abhängigkeit von L, der magnetischen Ortszeit (MLT) und der Aktivität erstellt und zwei Techniken entwickelt, um die Beobachtungen des äquatornahen Elektronenflusses aus Daten mit niedrigem Luftdruck mit Hilfe dieses Modells zu rekonstruieren. Das zweite Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Entwicklung eines neuen Modells der Topside-Ionosphäre. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, haben wir Beobachtungen von fünf der meistgenutzten Ionosphärenmissionen gesammelt und diese Datensätze interkalibriert. So konnten wir diese Daten gemeinsam für die Modellentwicklung, die Validierung und den Vergleich mit anderen bestehenden empirischen Modellen nutzen. Wir haben zum ersten Mal gezeigt, dass die Ionendichtebeobachtungen von Swarm-Langmuir-Sonden in niedrigen und mittleren Breiten auf der Nachtseite eine Überschätzung (bis zu ~40-50%) aufweisen, und haben vorgeschlagen, dass der Einfluss leichter Ionen eine mögliche Ursache für diese Überschätzung sein könnte. Zur Entwicklung des Oberseitenmodells wurden 19 Jahre lang Elektronendichteprofile aus der Radio-Okkultation (RO) verwendet, die mit einer Chapman-Funktion mit einer linearen Abhängigkeit der Skalenhöhe von der Höhe angepasst wurden. Aus dieser Näherung ergeben sich 4 Parameter, nämlich die Spitzendichte und die Höhe der F2-Schicht sowie die Steigung und der Achsenabschnitt des linearen Trends der Skalenhöhe, die mit Hilfe von neuronalen Feedforward-Netzwerken (NN) modelliert wurden. Das Modell wurde sowohl anhand von RO- als auch von In-situ-Beobachtungen umfassend validiert und übertrifft das Modell der Internationalen Referenz-Ionosphäre (IRI). Unsere Analyse zeigte, dass die größten Abweichungen des IRI-Modells von den Daten in Höhen von 100-200 km über der F2-Schichtspitze auftreten. Das entwickelte NN-basierte Ionosphärenmodell reproduziert die Auswirkungen verschiedener physikalischer Mechanismen, die in der Topside-Ionosphäre beobachtet werden, und liefert sehr genaue Vorhersagen der Elektronendichte. Diese Dissertation bietet eine umfassende Untersuchung der Dynamik in der Geosphäre, und die wichtigsten Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit tragen zur Verbesserung der Modelle von Plasmapopulationen in der erdnahen Weltraumumgebung bei. KW - Ionosphere KW - radiation belts KW - ring current KW - space physics KW - empirical modeling KW - machine learning KW - gradient boosting KW - neural networks KW - Ionosphäre KW - empirische Modellierung KW - Gradient Boosting KW - maschinelles Lernen KW - neuronale Netze KW - Strahlungsgürtel KW - Ringstrom KW - Weltraumphysik Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-613711 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Smirnov, Artem A1 - Berrendorf, Max A1 - Shprits, Yuri Y. A1 - Kronberg, Elena A. A1 - Allison, Hayley J. A1 - Aseev, Nikita A1 - Zhelavskaya, Irina A1 - Morley, Steven K. A1 - Reeves, Geoffrey D. A1 - Carver, Matthew R. A1 - Effenberger, Frederic T1 - Medium energy electron flux in earth's outer radiation belt (MERLIN) BT - a Machine learning model JF - Space weather : the international journal of research and applications N2 - The radiation belts of the Earth, filled with energetic electrons, comprise complex and dynamic systems that pose a significant threat to satellite operation. While various models of electron flux both for low and relativistic energies have been developed, the behavior of medium energy (120-600 keV) electrons, especially in the MEO region, remains poorly quantified. At these energies, electrons are driven by both convective and diffusive transport, and their prediction usually requires sophisticated 4D modeling codes. In this paper, we present an alternative approach using the Light Gradient Boosting (LightGBM) machine learning algorithm. The Medium Energy electRon fLux In Earth's outer radiatioN belt (MERLIN) model takes as input the satellite position, a combination of geomagnetic indices and solar wind parameters including the time history of velocity, and does not use persistence. MERLIN is trained on >15 years of the GPS electron flux data and tested on more than 1.5 years of measurements. Tenfold cross validation yields that the model predicts the MEO radiation environment well, both in terms of dynamics and amplitudes o f flux. Evaluation on the test set shows high correlation between the predicted and observed electron flux (0.8) and low values of absolute error. The MERLIN model can have wide space weather applications, providing information for the scientific community in the form of radiation belts reconstructions, as well as industry for satellite mission design, nowcast of the MEO environment, and surface charging analysis. KW - machine learning KW - radiation belts KW - electron flux KW - empirical modeling KW - magnetosphere KW - electrons Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002532 SN - 1542-7390 VL - 18 IS - 11 PB - American geophysical union, AGU CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Usanova, Maria E. A1 - Shprits, Yuri Y. T1 - Inner magnetosphere coupling BT - Recent advances JF - Journal of geophysical research : Space physics N2 - The dynamics of the inner magnetosphere is strongly governed by the interactions between different plasma populations that are coupled through large-scale electric and magnetic fields, currents, and wave-particle interactions. Inner magnetospheric plasma undergoes self-consistent interactions with global electric and magnetic fields. Waves excited in the inner magnetosphere from unstable particle distributions can provide energy exchange between different particle populations in the inner magnetosphere and affect the ring current and radiation belt dynamics. The ionosphere serves as an energy sink and feeds the magnetosphere back through the cold plasma outflow. The precipitating inner magnetospheric particles influence the ionosphere and upper atmospheric chemistry and affect climate. Satellite measurements and theoretical studies have advanced our understanding of the dynamics of various plasma populations in the inner magnetosphere. However, our knowledge of the coupling processes among the plasmasphere, ring current, radiation belts, global magnetic and electric fields, and plasma waves generated within these systems is still incomplete. This special issue incorporates extended papers presented at the Inner Magnetosphere Coupling III conference held 23–27 March 2015 in Los Angeles, California, USA, and includes modeling and observational contributions addressing interactions within different plasma populations in the inner magnetosphere (plasmasphere, ring current, and radiation belts), coupling between fields and plasma populations, as well as effects of the inner magnetosphere on the ionosphere and atmosphere. KW - inner magnetosphere KW - ring current KW - radiation belts KW - magnetosphere KW - ionosphere interactions KW - plasmasphere KW - solar wind Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JA023614 SN - 2169-9380 SN - 2169-9402 VL - 122 IS - 1 SP - 102 EP - 104 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - THES A1 - Cervantes Villa, Juan Sebastian T1 - Understanding the dynamics of radiation belt electrons by means of data assimilation T1 - Verständnis der Dynamik von Strahlungsgürtel-Elektronen durch Datenassimilation N2 - The Earth's electron radiation belts exhibit a two-zone structure, with the outer belt being highly dynamic due to the constant competition between a number of physical processes, including acceleration, loss, and transport. The flux of electrons in the outer belt can vary over several orders of magnitude, reaching levels that may disrupt satellite operations. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms that drive these variations is of high interest to the scientific community. In particular, the important role played by loss mechanisms in controlling relativistic electron dynamics has become increasingly clear in recent years. It is now widely accepted that radiation belt electrons can be lost either by precipitation into the atmosphere or by transport across the magnetopause, called magnetopause shadowing. Precipitation of electrons occurs due to pitch-angle scattering by resonant interaction with various types of waves, including whistler mode chorus, plasmaspheric hiss, and electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves. In addition, the compression of the magnetopause due to increases in solar wind dynamic pressure can substantially deplete electrons at high L shells where they find themselves in open drift paths, whereas electrons at low L shells can be lost through outward radial diffusion. Nevertheless, the role played by each physical process during electron flux dropouts still remains a fundamental puzzle. Differentiation between these processes and quantification of their relative contributions to the evolution of radiation belt electrons requires high-resolution profiles of phase space density (PSD). However, such profiles of PSD are difficult to obtain due to restrictions of spacecraft observations to a single measurement in space and time, which is also compounded by the inaccuracy of instruments. Data assimilation techniques aim to blend incomplete and inaccurate spaceborne data with physics-based models in an optimal way. In the Earth's radiation belts, it is used to reconstruct the entire radial profile of electron PSD, and it has become an increasingly important tool in validating our current understanding of radiation belt dynamics, identifying new physical processes, and predicting the near-Earth hazardous radiation environment. In this study, sparse measurements from Van Allen Probes A and B and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) 13 and 15 are assimilated into the three-dimensional Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB-3D) diffusion model, by means of a split-operator Kalman filter over a four-year period from 01 October 2012 to 01 October 2016. In comparison to previous works, the 3D model accounts for more physical processes, namely mixed pitch angle-energy diffusion, scattering by EMIC waves, and magnetopause shadowing. It is shown how data assimilation, by means of the innovation vector (the residual between observations and model forecast), can be used to account for missing physics in the model. This method is used to identify the radial distances from the Earth and the geomagnetic conditions where the model is inconsistent with the measured PSD for different values of the adiabatic invariants mu and K. As a result, the Kalman filter adjusts the predictions in order to match the observations, and this is interpreted as evidence of where and when additional source or loss processes are active. Furthermore, two distinct loss mechanisms responsible for the rapid dropouts of radiation belt electrons are investigated: EMIC wave-induced scattering and magnetopause shadowing. The innovation vector is inspected for values of the invariant mu ranging from 300 to 3000 MeV/G, and a statistical analysis is performed to quantitatively assess the effect of both processes as a function of various geomagnetic indices, solar wind parameters, and radial distance from the Earth. The results of this work are in agreement with previous studies that demonstrated the energy dependence of these two mechanisms. EMIC wave scattering dominates loss at lower L shells and it may amount to between 10%/hr to 30%/hr of the maximum value of PSD over all L shells for fixed first and second adiabatic invariants. On the other hand, magnetopause shadowing is found to deplete electrons across all energies, mostly at higher L shells, resulting in loss from 50%/hr to 70%/hr of the maximum PSD. Nevertheless, during times of enhanced geomagnetic activity, both processes can operate beyond such location and encompass the entire outer radiation belt. The results of this study are two-fold. Firstly, it demonstrates that the 3D data assimilative code provides a comprehensive picture of the radiation belts and is an important step toward performing reanalysis using observations from current and future missions. Secondly, it achieves a better understanding and provides critical clues of the dominant loss mechanisms responsible for the rapid dropouts of electrons at different locations over the outer radiation belt. N2 - Die Elektronenstrahlungsgürtel der Erde weisen eine Zwei-Zonen-Struktur auf, wobei der äußere Gürtel aufgrund des ständigen Zusammenspiels zwischen einer Reihe von physikalischen Prozessen, einschließlich Beschleunigung, Verlust und Transport, eine hohe Dynamik aufweist. Der Elektronenfluss im äußeren Gürtel kann über mehrere Größenordnungen variieren und Werte erreichen, die den Satellitenbetrieb stören können. Daher ist das Verständnis der Mechanismen, die diese Variabilität bewirken, von hohem Interesse für die wissenschaftliche Gemeinschaft. Insbesondere die wichtige Rolle die Verlustmechanismen bei der Kontrolle der relativistischen Elektronendynamik spielen ist in den letzten Jahren immer deutlicher geworden. Es ist inzwischen weithin anerkannt, dass Strahlungsgürtelelektronen entweder durch Interaktion mit der Atmosphäre oder durch Transport über die Magnetopause, das so genannte Magnetopauseshadowing, verloren gehen können. Der Verlust von Elektronen in der Atmosphäre erfolgt aufgrund von Pitchwinkelstreuung durch resonante Wechselwirkung mit verschiedenen Arten von magnetosphärischen Wellen, einschließlich plasmasphärischem Hiss, Whistler-Mode-Chorus, und elektromagnetischen Ionenzyklotron-Wellen (EMIC). Darüber hinaus kann die Komprimierung der Magnetopause aufgrund der Erhöhungen des dynamischen Drucks des Sonnenwindes dazu führen, dass Elektronen an hohen L-Shells, wo sie sich in offenen Driftpfaden befinden, erheblich in ihrer Dichte reduziert werden, während Elektronen an niedrigen L-Shells durch radiale Diffusion nach außen verloren gehen können. Nichtsdestotrotz bleibt die Rolle, die jeder physikalische Prozess bei der schnellen Reduktion des Elektronenflusses spielt, nach wie vor ein grundlegendes Rätsel. Die Unterscheidung zwischen diesen Prozessen und die Quantifizierung ihrer relativen Beiträge zur Entwicklung der Strahlungsgürtelelektronen erfordert hochauflösende Profile der Phasenraumdichte (PSD). Solche Profile der PSD sind jedoch schwierig zu bestimmen, da die Beobachtungen von Raumfahrzeugen auf eine einzige Messung in Raum und Zeit beschränkt sind, was auch durch die Ungenauigkeit der Instrumente erschwert wird. Datenassimilationstechniken zielen darauf ab, unvollständige und ungenaue raumgestützte Daten mit physikalisch basierten Modellen auf optimale Weise zu kombinieren. In den Strahlungsgürteln der Erde werden sie verwendet, um das gesamte radiale Profil der Elektronen-PSD zu rekonstruieren, und sie sind zu einem immer wichtigeren Werkzeug geworden, um unser derzeitiges Verständnis der Dynamik der Strahlungsgürtel zu validieren, neue physikalische Prozesse zu identifizieren und die erdnahe gefährliche Strahlungsumgebung vorherzusagen. In dieser Studie werden Messungen der Van-Allen-Probes A und B und der Geostationary-Operational-Environmental-Satellites (GOES) 13 und 15 mit Hilfe eines Split-Operator-Kalman-Filters über einen Zeitraum von vier Jahren vom 01. Oktober 2012 bis zum 01. Oktober 2016 in das dreidimensionale Versatile Electron Radiation Belt-3D-Diffusionsmodell (VERB-3D) integriert. Im Vergleich zu früheren Arbeiten berücksichtigt das 3D-Modell mehr physikalische Prozesse, nämlich gemischte Diffusion, Streuung durch EMIC-Wellen und Magnetopausenverluste. Es wird gezeigt, wie die Datenassimilation mit Hilfe des Innovationsvektors (des Residuums zwischen Beobachtungen und Modellprognose), genutzt werden kann, um fehlende physikalische Prozesse im Modell zu berücksichtigen. Diese Methode wird verwendet, um die radialen Entfernungen von der Erde und die geomagnetischen Bedingungen zu identifizieren, bei denen unser Modell für verschiedene Werte der adiabatischen Invarianten mu und K nicht mit der gemessenen PSD übereinstimmt. Infolgedessen passt der Kalman-Filter die Vorhersagen an die Beobachtungen an, und dies wird als Nachweis dafür interpretiert, wo und wann zusätzliche Quellen- oder Verlustprozesse aktiv sind. Darüber hinaus werden zwei unterschiedliche Verlustmechanismen untersucht, die für die schnellen Verluste von Strahlungsgürtelelektronen verantwortlich sind: EMIC-Wellen-induzierte Streuung und Magnetopausenverluste. Der Innovationsvektor wird bei Werten der Invariante mu im Bereich von 300 bis 3000 MeV/G untersucht, und es wird eine statistische Analyse durchgeführt, um die Wirkung beider Prozesse in Abhängigkeit von verschiedenen geomagnetischen Indizes, Sonnenwindparametern und der radialen Entfernung von der Erde quantitativ zu bewerten. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit stehen in Übereinstimmung mit früheren Studien, die die Energieabhängigkeit dieser beiden Mechanismen nachgewiesen haben. Die EMIC-Wellenstreuung dominiert den Verlust bei niedrigen L-Shells und kann zwi-schen 10%/hr bis 30%/hr des Maximalwertes der PSD über alle L-Shells für feste Werte der ersten und zweiten adiabatische Invarianten betragen. Andererseits wird festgestellt, dass bei den Magnetopausenverlusten über alle Energien hinweg, meist bei höheren L-Shells, Elektronen Verluste zeigen, was zu einer Verstärkung des Verlustes von 50%/hr auf 70%/hr der maximalen PSD führt. Nichtsdestotrotz können beide Prozesse in Zeiten erhöhter geomagnetischer Aktivität über diese L-Shells hinaus wirken und den gesamten äußeren Strahlungsgürtel umfassen. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie sind zweifacher Art. Erstens zeigt sie, dass der 3D-Daten-Assimilationscode ein umfassendes Bild der Strahlungsgürtel liefert und ein wichtiger Schritt zur Durchführung einer Reanalyse unter Verwendung von Beobachtungen aus aktuellen und zukünftigen Missionen ist. Zweitens erreicht er ein besseres Verständnis und liefert entscheidende Hinweise auf die vorherrschenden Verlustmechanismen, die für die schnellen Verluste von Elektronen an verschiedenen Orten im äußeren Strahlungsgürtel verantwortlich sind. KW - radiation belts KW - Strahlungsgürtel KW - data assimilation KW - Datenassimilation KW - phase space density KW - Phasenraumdichte KW - magnetospheric waves KW - magnetosphärischen Wellen KW - Kalman filter KW - Kalman-Filter Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-519827 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ripoll, Jean-Francois A1 - Loridan, Vivien A1 - Denton, Michael H. A1 - Cunningham, Gregory A1 - Reeves, G. A1 - Santolik, O. A1 - Fennell, Joseph A1 - Turner, Drew L. A1 - Drozdov, Alexander A1 - Villa, Juan Sebastian Cervantes A1 - Shprits, Yuri Y. A1 - Thaller, Scott A. A1 - Kurth, William S. A1 - Kletzing, Craig A. A1 - Henderson, Michael G. A1 - Ukhorskiy, Aleksandr Y. T1 - Observations and Fokker-Planck Simulations of the L-Shell, Energy, and Times JF - Journal of geophysical research : Space physics N2 - The evolution of the radiation belts in L-shell (L), energy (E), and equatorial pitch angle (alpha(0)) is analyzed during the calm 11-day interval (4-15 March) following the 1 March 2013 storm. Magnetic Electron and Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) observations from Van Allen Probes are interpreted alongside 1D and 3D Fokker-Planck simulations combined with consistent event-driven scattering modeling from whistler mode hiss waves. Three (L, E, alpha(0)) regions persist through 11 days of hiss wave scattering; the pitch angle-dependent inner belt core (L similar to <2.2 and E < 700 keV), pitch angle homogeneous outer belt low-energy core (L > similar to 5 and E similar to < 100 keV), and a distinct pocket of electrons (L similar to [4.5, 5.5] and E similar to [0.7, 2] MeV). The pitch angle homogeneous outer belt is explained by the diffusion coefficients that are roughly constant for alpha(0) similar to <60 degrees, E > 100 keV, 3.5 < L < L-pp similar to 6. Thus, observed unidirectional flux decays can be used to estimate local pitch angle diffusion rates in that region. Top-hat distributions are computed and observed at L similar to 3-3.5 and E = 100-300 keV. KW - radiation belts KW - wave-particle interactions KW - electron lifetime KW - pitch angle diffusion coefficient KW - hiss waves Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JA026111 SN - 2169-9380 SN - 2169-9402 VL - 124 IS - 2 SP - 1125 EP - 1142 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Denton, Richard E. A1 - Ofman, L. A1 - Shprits, Yuri Y. A1 - Bortnik, J. A1 - Millan, R. M. A1 - Rodger, C. J. A1 - da Silva, C. L. A1 - Rogers, B. N. A1 - Hudson, M. K. A1 - Liu, K. A1 - Min, K. A1 - Glocer, A. A1 - Komar, C. T1 - Pitch Angle Scattering of Sub-MeV Relativistic Electrons by Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves JF - Journal of geophysical research : Space physics N2 - Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves have long been considered to be a significant loss mechanism for relativistic electrons. This has most often been attributed to resonant interactions with the highest amplitude waves. But recent observations have suggested that the dominant energy of electrons precipitated to the atmosphere may often be relatively low, less than 1 MeV, whereas the minimum resonant energy of the highest amplitude waves is often greater than 2 MeV. Here we use relativistic electron test particle simulations in the wavefields of a hybrid code simulation of EMIC waves in dipole geometry in order to show that significant pitch angle scattering can occur due to interaction with low-amplitude short-wavelength EMIC waves. In the case we examined, these waves are in the H band (at frequencies above the He+ gyrofrequency), even though the highest amplitude waves were in the He band frequency range (below the He+ gyrofrequency). We also present wave power distributions for 29 EMIC simulations in straight magnetic field line geometry that show that the high wave number portion of the spectrum is in every case mostly due to the H band waves. Though He band waves are often associated with relativistic electron precipitation, it is possible that the He band waves do not directly scatter the sub-megaelectron volts (sub-MeV) electrons, but that the presence of He band waves is associated with high plasma density which lowers the minimum resonant energy so that these electrons can more easily resonate with the H band waves. KW - electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves KW - EMIC KW - relativistic electron precipitation KW - pitch angle scattering KW - wave particle interaction KW - radiation belts Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JA026384 SN - 2169-9402 VL - 124 IS - 7 SP - 5610 EP - 5626 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER -