Correlated Observation on Global Distributions of Magnetosonic Waves and Proton Rings in the Radiation Belts

Fast magnetosonic (MS) waves are excited by the ring distribution of energetic protons preferably when the ring velocity ( V R ) is within a factor of 2 above or below the local Alfvén speed ( V A ). Here we examine the global distributions of MS waves and proton rings with 0.5 V A  ≤  V R  ≤ 2 V A based on 64 months (from October 25, 2012 to February 28, 2018) of Van Allen Probes observations. The statistical results show that MS waves are present over a broad region of L  = 1.2–6.0 and 00–24 magnetic local time (MLT), with a higher occurrence rate at L  = 2.5–5.5 on the dayside. Proton rings occur mainly on the dayside of L  > 5.0. During active geomagnetic periods, both MS waves and proton rings occur more frequently and extend to low L ‐shells. The current results provide the further observational evidence that MS waves can be excited by proton rings at a distant region and propagate to low L ‐shells.