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Characteristics, Occurrence, and Decay Rates of Remnant Belts Associated With Three‐Belt Events in the Earth's Radiation Belts
Author(s) -
Pinto Victor A.,
Bortnik Jacob,
Moya Pablo S.,
Lyons Larry R.,
Sibeck David G.,
Kanekal Shrikanth G.,
Spence Harlan E.,
Baker Daniel N.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl080274
Subject(s) - van allen radiation belt , earth's magnetic field , geomagnetic storm , van allen probes , geology , range (aeronautics) , geophysics , physics , magnetosphere , magnetic field , materials science , quantum mechanics , composite material
Shortly after the launch of the Van Allen Probes, a new three‐belt configuration of the electron radiation belts was reported. Using data between September 2012 and November 2017, we have identified 30 three‐belt events and found that about 18% of geomagnetic storms result in such configuration. Based on the identified events, we evaluated some characteristics of the remnant (intermediate) belt. We determined the energy range of occurrence and found it peaks at E = 5.2 MeV. We also determined that the magnetopause location and SYM‐H value may play an important role in the outer belt losses that lead to formation and location of the remnant belt. Finally, we calculated the decay rates of the remnant belt for all events and found that their lifetime gets longer as energy increases, ranging from days at E = 1.8 MeV up to months at E = 6.3 MeV suggesting that remnant belts are extremely persistent.