Open AccessMulti‐Year Statistics of LEO Energetic Electrons as Observed by the Korean NextSat‐1
Author(s) -
Park Jaeheung,
Min Kyoung Wook,
Seo Hoonkyu,
Kim EoJin,
Ryu Kwangsun,
Sohn Jongdae,
Seon Jongho,
Yoo JiHyeon,
Lee Seunguk,
Kress Brian,
Lee Junchan,
Woo Changho,
Lee DaeYoung
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
space weather
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.254
H-Index - 56
ISSN - 1542-7390
DOI - 10.1029/2021sw002787
Subject(s) - geosynchronous orbit , van allen radiation belt , electron , physics , context (archaeology) , flux (metallurgy) , earth's magnetic field , latitude , longitude , atmospheric sciences , range (aeronautics) , geophysics , astrophysics , magnetosphere , geology , satellite , astronomy , plasma , nuclear physics , magnetic field , chemistry , paleontology , materials science , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , composite material
Monitoring the Earth's radiation belt by Low‐Earth‐Orbit (LEO) satellites has a long history and complemented observations near the high‐altitude equatorial plane. However, most of the previous LEO missions suffered from limitations in energy resolution, energy range, L ‐shell coverage, or the mission lifetime, which leave room for further improvement in this topic. For <80 keV electrons, the slot‐region outer edge at LEO moves inward with increasing geomagnetic activity, which agrees with previous Van Allen Probes reports. The behavior is more conspicuous for lower‐energy electrons. Latitudinal profiles of outer‐belt electron flux are smoother equatorward of the geosynchronous footprint latitudes (|MLAT| ∼ 66°) than poleward. The NextSat‐1 electron flux is positively correlated to geosynchronous observations, with the coefficient generally higher for higher electron energies. Also, both the geosynchronous and NextSat‐1 data exhibit similar spectral indices close to −3 in the log‐log space. All these results complement and expand previous knowledge on energetic electrons. The main findings are discussed in the context of existing literature.