Open AccessDEMETER observations of transmitter‐induced precipitation of inner radiation belt electrons
Author(s) -
Graf K. L.,
Inan U. S.,
Piddyachiy D.,
Kulkarni P.,
Parrot M.,
Sauvaud J. A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2008ja013949
Subject(s) - electron , van allen radiation belt , physics , electron precipitation , satellite , transmitter , radiation , flux (metallurgy) , population , computational physics , detector , atomic physics , optics , plasma , nuclear physics , magnetosphere , materials science , astronomy , telecommunications , computer science , metallurgy , channel (broadcasting) , demography , sociology
Near loss cone energetic electron flux increases induced by ground‐based very low frequency (VLF) transmissions are observed directly via satellite‐based detection. In 2 years of experiments ranging from 27 March 2006 through 2 April 2008 with the 21.4‐kHz transmitter NPM in Lualualei, Hawaii, and the French satellite DEMETER (detection of electromagnetic emissions transmitted from earthquake regions), only a few cases of detection of individual pulses of transmitter‐induced precipitation of inner radiation belt electrons have been realized. Analysis of the specific cases of detection allow comparison of precipitating flux with predictions based on ray‐tracing analyses of wave propagation and test particle modeling of the wave‐particle interaction. Results indicate that the precipitated flux of >100 keV electrons induced by the NPM transmitter peaks at L ≃ 1.9 and, in the rare cases of detection, may be at higher energies than the ∼100 keV peak predicted by the model. The low detection rate is attributed to the orientation of the DEMETER particle detector, which is mostly overwhelmed by the trapped population at the location of detection.