Quantification of relativistic electron microburst losses during the GEM storms

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Abstract
Bursty precipitation of relativistic electrons has been implicated as a major loss process during magnetic storms. One type of precipitation, microbursts, appears to contain enough electrons to empty the prestorm outer radiation belt in approximately a day. During storms that result in high fluxes of trapped relativistic electrons, microbursts continue for several days into the recovery phase, when trapped fluxes are dramatically increasing. The present study shows that this apparent inconsistency is resolved by observations that the number of electrons lost through microbursts is 10\textendash100 times larger during the main phase than during the recovery phase of several magnetic storms chosen by the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) program.
Year of Publication
2004
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
31
Date Published
02/2004
ISSN Number
0094-8276
URL
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2003GL018621/abstract
DOI
10.1029/2003GL018621
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