New Multi-Spacecraft Observations of the Earth’s Van Allen Radiation Belts

English Abstract:

The first great scientific discovery of the Space Age was that the Earth is enshrouded in toroids, or “belts”, of very high-energy magnetically trapped charged particles. Early observations of the radiation environment clearly indicated that the Van Allen belts could be delineated into an inner zone dominated by high-energy protons and an outer zone dominated by high-energy electrons. Subsequent studies showed that electrons in the energy range 100 keV < E< 1 MeV often populated both the inner and outer zones with a pronounced “slot” region relatively devoid of energetic electrons existing between them. This two-belt structure for the Van Allen moderate-energy electron component was explained as being due to strong interactions of electrons with electromagnetic waves just inside the cold plasma (plasmapause) boundary. The energy distribution, spatial extent and particle species makeup of the Van Allen belts has been subsequently explored by several space missions. However, recent observations by the NASA dual-spacecraft Van Allen Probes mission have revealed wholly unexpected properties of the radiation belts, especially at highly relativistic (E > 2 MeV) and ultra-relativistic (E > 5 MeV) kinetic energies. In this presentation we show using high spatial and temporal resolution data from the Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope (REPT) experiment on board the Van Allen Probes that multiple belts can exist concurrently and that an exceedingly sharp inner boundary exists for ultra-relativistic electrons. Using additionally available Van Allen Probes data, we demonstrate that these remarkable features of energetic electrons are not due to a physical boundary within Earth’s intrinsic magnetic field. Neither is it likely that human-generated electromagnetic transmitter wave fields might produce such effects. Rather, we conclude from these unique measurements that slow natural inward radial diffusion combined with weak, but persistent, wave-particle pitch angle scattering deep inside the Earth’s magnetosphere can conspire to create an almost impenetrable barrier through which the most energetic Van Allen belt electrons cannot migrate.