Open AccessReanalysis of relativistic radiation belt electron phase space density using multisatellite observations: Sensitivity to empirical magnetic field models
Author(s) -
Ni Binbin,
Shprits Yuri,
Thorne Richard,
Friedel Reiner,
Nagai Tsugunobu
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 - 10.1029/2009ja014438
Subject(s) - van allen radiation belt , physics , satellite , magnetic field , earth's magnetic field , computational physics , electron density , space weather , geophysics , electron , magnetosphere , astronomy , quantum mechanics
Using empirical external magnetic field models (T89, T96, T01s, and T04s) and simultaneous observations from four satellites (CRRES, Akebono, and two GEO satellites) during a 7‐day period from 1 to 7 August 1991, we performed a combined reanalysis of radiation belt electron phase space density (PSD). While precise L * locations of the satellites are sensitive to the adopted magnetic field model, comparisons between the reconstructed radial profiles of electron PSD, obtained using Kalman filtering, indicate that the combined reanalyses are relatively insensitive to the choice of the magnetic field model during geomagnetically quiet or moderate activity times or for the long‐term reanalysis studies. The reanalysis results using the four external magnetic field models show similarities in the locations of peaks in radial profiles of PSD and the radial extent of the dropouts. The largest difference between assimilated PSD using different Tsyganenko models occurs mostly during geomagnetically active periods when the Dst index is low or at higher L * shells near the boundary. Presented results also suggest that the errors of assimilated PSD based on multiple satellite measurements can become smaller than errors of PSD reconstructed from individual satellites.