Radiation Belt Sessions at the Fall 2010 AGU
At the Fall 2011 AGU, the following SM sessions were presented. The detailed schedule can be found at http://sites.agu.org/fallmeeting/scientific-program/.
SM07: The Interplay of Processes Within Earth's Radiation Belts and the Near-Earth Plasma Sheet
Many processes have been proposed to explain energization, transport, and loss of energetic particles in Earth's radiation belts. Low energy particles originating in the plasma sheet provide both the seed population and generate plasma waves responsible for loss and acceleration of "killer" electrons. While we have some idea of how each mechanism operates in isolation, we know little about how they interact with and modulate each other. This session will focus on how theory, modeling, and multi-point measurements can be combined to untangle the complex inter-relationships between mechanisms operating in Earth's radiation belts. Relevant topics include plasma sheet and radiation belt coupling, and the role of transport and plasma waves leading to energization and loss of energetic particles, among the issues that the upcoming RBSP mission seeks to address. Conveners: Mei-Ching Fok, Binbin Ni, Joseph Fennel and Shrikanth Kanekal
SM11: Multiscale Turbulence and Stochastic Wave-Particle Interactions in Planetary Magnetospheres
We solicit experimental and theoretical contributions dealing with turbulent phenomena in various regions of planetary magnetospheres at either MHD or kinetic levels of plasma behavior. Large-scale stochastic plasma motions are largely controlled by the MHD energy cascade. At smaller scales, ion and electron kinetics play an increasingly important role, introducing new mechanisms of cross-scale coupling controlled by wave-particle interactions. Exploring these effects is instrumental for understanding fundamental mechanisms of magnetic reconnection, particle acceleration and transport addressed by present and upcoming magnetospheric missions such as Cluster, THEMIS, MESSENGER, RBSP and MMS. Conveners: Vadim Uritsky, Deirdre Wendel, Joseph Borovsky and Annick Pouquet
SM13: Plasma Jet Fronts and Particle Acceleration in the Near-Earth Magnetotail
This session will focus on the formation mechanisms of plasma jet/dipolarization fronts and associated particle acceleration in the near-Earth magnetotail (-20<=XGSM<=-10 RE), both from the observational and theoretical points of view. The session is motivated by recent advances provided by Cluster and THEMIS spacecraft observations and by MHD and kinetic simulations, as well as by the upcoming RBSP (2012) and MMS (2014) missions that have particle acceleration as a major topic. We solicit observational and theoretical contributions addressing ion and electron acceleration mechanisms and particle injection into the inner magnetosphere. Studies directly combining observations with models/simulations will be of particular relevance. Conveners: Allesandro Retino, Yuri Khotyaintsev, and Philip Pritchett
