HR: 0830h
AN: SM41C-0586    [PDF]
TI: Quantification of Relativistic Electron Microburst Losses During the GEM Storms
AU: * O'Brien, T P
EM: paul.obrien@aero.org
AF: The Aerospace Corporation, M2-260 PO Box 92957, Los Angeles, CA 90009-2957 United States
AU: Looper, M D
EM: mark.d.looper@aero.org
AF: The Aerospace Corporation, M2-260 PO Box 92957, Los Angeles, CA 90009-2957 United States
AU: Blake, B
EM: jbernard.blake@aero.org
AF: The Aerospace Corporation, M2-260 PO Box 92957, Los Angeles, CA 90009-2957 United States
AB: Bursty precipitation of relativistic electrons has been implicated as a major loss process during magnetic storms. So-called microbursts appear to contain enough electrons to empty the prestorm radiation belts in approximately a day. During storms that result in high fluxes of trapped relativistic electrons, microbursts continue for several days into the recovery phase, when trapped fluxes are dramatically increasing. The present study shows that this apparent inconsistency is resolved by observations that the number of electrons lost to microbursts is many times larger during the main phase than during the recovery phase of several magnetic storms chosen by the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) program.
DE: 2716 Energetic particles, precipitating
DE: 2720 Energetic particles, trapped
DE: 2730 Magnetosphere--inner
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting