SM44B-01
The Relative Deep Penetrations of Energetic Electrons and Ions into the Slot Region and Inner Belt
Thursday, 17 December 2015: 16:00
2009 (Moscone West)
Hong Zhao1, Xinlin Li2, Seth G Claudepierre3, J. F. Fennell4, J Bernard Blake3, Brian Larsen5, Ruth M Skoug6, Herbert O Funsten7, Daniel N. Baker8, Geoffrey D Reeves9 and Harlan E. Spence10, (1)University of Colorado at Boulder, LASP and Aerospace Engineering Sciences, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)Univ Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)Aerospace Corporation Santa Monica, Santa Monica, CA, United States, (4)Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (5)The New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, United States, (6)Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM, United States, (7)Los Alamos Natl Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States, (8)University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (9)Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States, (10)University of New Hampshire Main Campus, Space Science Center, Durham, NH, United States
Abstract:
Energetic electrons in the inner magnetosphere are distributed into two regions: the inner radiation belt and the outer radiation belt, with the slot region in between separating the two belts. Though many studies have focused on the outer belt dynamics, the energetic electrons in the slot region and especially inner belt did not receive much attention until recently. A number of new features regarding electrons in the low L region have been reported lately, including the abundance of 10s-100s of keV electrons in the inner belt, the frequent deep injections of 100s of keV electrons, and 90°-minimum pitch angle distributions of 100s of keV electrons in the inner belt and slot region. In this presentation, we focus on the relative deep injections into the slot region and inner belt of energetic electrons and ions using observations from HOPE and MagEIS instruments on the Van Allen Probes. It is shown that while 10s – 100s of keV electrons penetrate commonly deep into the low L region and are persistent in the inner belt, the deep injections of ions with similar energies occur rarely, possibly due to the fast loss of ions in the low L region. The energy spectra and pitch angle distributions of electrons and ions during injections are also very different, indicating the existence of different physical mechanisms acting on them. In addition, some intriguing similarities between lower energy ions and higher energy electrons will also be discussed.
