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Variations of the Electron Fluxes in the Terrestrial Radiation Belts Due To the Impact of Corotating Interaction Regions and Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections
Author(s) -
Benacquista R.,
Boscher D.,
Rochel S.,
Maget V.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2017ja024796
Subject(s) - coronal mass ejection , physics , interplanetary spaceflight , solar wind , interplanetary medium , van allen radiation belt , geomagnetic storm , magnetosphere , atmospheric sciences , electron , geophysics , astronomy , plasma , quantum mechanics
In this paper, we study the variations of the radiation belts electron fluxes induced by the interaction of two types of solar wind structures with the Earth magnetosphere: the corotating interaction regions and the interplanetary coronal mass ejections. We use a statistical method based on the comparison of the preevent and postevent fluxes. Applied to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‐Polar Operational Environmental Satellites data, this gives us the opportunity to extend previous studies focused on relativistic electrons at geosynchronous orbit. We enlighten how corotating interaction regions and Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections can impact differently the electron belts depending on the energy and the L shell. In addition, we provide a new insight concerning these variations by considering their amplitude. Finally, we show strong relations between the intensity of the magnetic storms related to the events and the variation of the flux. These relations concern both the capacity of the events to increase the flux and the deepness of these increases.