SM44B-09
Near Instantaneous Energization of Electrons to Ultra-relativistic Energies in the Earth’s Radiation Belts during the Strong Shock event of 17 March 2015

Thursday, 17 December 2015: 17:48
2009 (Moscone West)
Shrikanth G Kanekal1, Daniel N. Baker2, J. Bernard Blake3, Sam Califf2, Seth G Claudepierre4, Scot Richard Elkington5, Joseph F. Fennell6, Allison N Jaynes7, Ashley Diemer Jones8, Craig Kletzing9, Xinlin Li2, Geoffrey D Reeves10, Harlan E. Spence11 and Lynn B Wilson III1, (1)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (2)University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)Aerospace Corporation Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (4)Aerospace Corporation Santa Monica, Santa Monica, CA, United States, (5)Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States, (6)Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (7)University of Colorado at Boulder, LASP, Boulder, CO, United States, (8)Catholic University of America, physics, Washington, DC, United States, (9)University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States, (10)Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States, (11)University of New Hampshire Main Campus, Space Science Center, Durham, NH, United States
Abstract:
During the latter part of March 2015, the Earth’s magnetosphere was impacted by a strong interplanetary shock. The resulting geomagnetic storm was the strongest one seen in the past decade. Instruments onboard Van Allen Probes observed near instantaneous energization of electrons to ultra-relativistic energies. Furthermore, these electrons were seen deep within the magnetosphere at L~3.3 injected as a result of the shock impact. We present electron measurements from the Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope (REPT) and the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) onboard the twin Van Allen Probes mission. These high-energy electron observations are complemented by the electric and magnetic field measurements from the Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS) instrument. In-situ measurements from the WIND and Themis fully characterize the interplanetary shock properties.

 

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