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Van Allen Belt Punctures and Their Correlation With Solar Wind, Geomagnetic Activity, and ULF Waves
Author(s) -
Joseph J.,
Jaynes A. N.,
Baker D. N.,
Li X.,
Kanekal S. G.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1029/2020ja028679
Subject(s) - solar wind , coronal mass ejection , earth's magnetic field , physics , interplanetary spaceflight , interplanetary medium , space weather , ultra low frequency , astrophysics , interplanetary scintillation , geophysics , geomagnetic storm , atmospheric sciences , geology , astronomy , plasma , magnetic field , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics
We investigate the rare events of sudden appearances of relativistic electrons (>700 keV), which are normally confined to the Van Allen belts, in the slot region. The frequency of occurrence of these events is on average 1–2 per year. To cope with the scarcity of events, in this study, we examine 21 years of trapped relativistic electron fluxes available from the POES and MetOp Space Environment Monitor (SEM‐2). Our statistical analysis shows that these events can occur even during moderate geomagnetic activity. Occurrence of these events correlates with high‐speed solar winds or interplanetary coronal mass ejections depending on the phase of the solar cycle. A strong correlation of these events is found with ultra‐low frequency (ULF) wave activity, which can be used to predict these events with more than 75% accuracy.