Van Allen Probes Bibliography is from August 2012 through September 2021 Notice:
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Statistical Distribution of Bifurcation of Earth s Inner Energetic Electron Belt at tens of keV
Author | Hua, Man; Ni, Binbin; Li, Wen; Ma, Qianli; Gu, Xudong; Fu, Song; Cao, Xing; Guo, YingJie; Liu, Yangxizi; |
Keywords | Inner electron radiation belt; Flux bifurcation; VLF transmitter waves; Statistical distribution; Van Allen Probes |
Abstract | We present a survey of the bifurcation of the Earth s energetic electron belt (tens of keV) using 6-year measurements from Van Allen Probes. The inner energetic electron belt usually presents one-peak radial structure with high flux intensity at L < ∼2.5, which however can be bifurcated to exhibit a double-peak radial structure. By automatically identifying the events of bifurcation based on RBSPICE data, we find that the bifurcation is mostly observed at ∼30–100 keV with a local flux minimum at L=∼2.0–∼2.3 under relatively quiet geomagnetic conditions, typically after a significant flux enhancement due to radial diffusion or injections to L<∼2.5. The bifurcation typically lasts for a few days during quiet periods until interrupted by injections or radial diffusion. The L-shell, energy and seasonal dependences of the occurrence of bifurcated inner electron belt support the important role of electron scattering by very-low-frequency transmitter waves in the bifurcation formation. |
Year of Publication | 2020 |
Journal | Geophysical Research Letters |
Volume | n/a |
Number of Pages | e2020GL091242 |
Section | |
Date Published | 12/2020 |
ISBN | |
URL | https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020GL091242 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091242 |