Simulation of Radiation Belt Precipitation During the March 17, 2013 Storm

Abstract:

Balloon-borne instruments detecting radiation belt precipitation frequently observe oscillations in the mHZ frequency range. Several balloon missions measuring electron precipitation near the poles in the 100 keV to 2.5 MeV energy range, including the MAXIS, MINIS, and most recently the BARREL campaign, have observed this modulation at ULF wave frequencies (Clilverd et al., 2007; Millan et al., 2011). However, ULF waves in the magnetosphere, commonly associated with oscillations in solar wind dynamic pressure on the dayside and with Kelvin-Helmhotz instabilities in the flanks, are seldom directly linked to increases in electron precipitation since their oscillation periods are much larger than the gyroperiod and the bounce period of radiation belt electrons. It has been conjectured that ULF oscillations in the magnetosphere may modulate EMIC wave growth rates. EMIC waves, in turn, have long been associated with energetic electron precipitation, since they can cause pitch angle scattering of these particles, thus lowering their mirror points (Miyoshi et al., 2008; Carson et al., 2013). This would explain the ULF modulation of MeV electrons seen by the balloon instruments. However, test particle simulations show that another hypothesis is possible (Brito et al., 2012). 3D simulations of radiation belt electrons were performed to investigate the effect of ULF waves on precipitation. The simulations track the behavior of energetic electrons near the loss cone, using guiding center techniques, coupled with an MHD simulation of the magnetosphere, using the LFM code, during a CME-shock event on March 17, 2013. Results indicate that ULF modulation of precipitation occurs even without the presence of VLF-type waves, which are not resolved in the MHD simulation.