State-of-Art Empirical Modeling of Ring Current Plasma Pressure

Abstract:

The plasma pressure in the inner magnetosphere plays a key role in plasma dynamics by changing magnetic field configurations and generating the ring current. In this study, we present our preliminary results of empirically constructing 2D equatorial ring current pressure and pressure anisotropy spatial distributions controlled by Dst based on measurements from two particle instruments (HOPE and RBSPICE) onboard Van Allen Probes. We first obtain the equatorial plasma perpendicular and parallel pressures for different species including H+, He+, O+ and e- from 20 eV to ~1 MeV, and investigate their relative contributions to the total plasma pressure and pressure anisotropy. We then establish empirical equatorial pressure models within ~ 6 R_E using a state-of-art machine learning technique, Support Vector Regression Machine (SVRM). The pressure models predict equatorial perpendicular and parallel plasma thermal pressures (for each species and for total pressures) and pressure anisotropy at any given r, MLT, Bz/Br (equivalent Z distance), and Dst within applicable ranges. We are currently validating our model predictions and investigating how the ring current pressure distributions and the associated pressure gradients vary with Dst index.