HR: 17:15h
AN: SM34A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Radiation Belt Electron Pitch Angle Measurements from the GOES Satellites
AU: * Onsager, T G
EM: terry.onsager@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA Space Environment Center, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305 United States
AU: Green, J C
EM: janet.green@lasp.colorado.edu
AF: University of Colorado/LASP, 1234 Innovation Dr., Boulder, CO 80303 United States
AU: Singer, H J
EM: howard.singer@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA Space Environment Center, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305 United States
AB: Radiation belt electron pitch angle distributions provide important information regarding the source and loss processes that control the electron flux levels. As the flux levels vary, it is important to understand the extent to which the distinctive pitch angle distributions are formed through specific source and loss processes versus adiabatic drifts. In addition, pitch angle information is critical when mapping electron fluxes from one location to another. In this presentation, we give an analysis of the pitch angle distribution of $>$2 MeV electrons measured at geosynchronous orbit by the GOES satellites. Although the current GOES satellites are three-axis stabilized during normal operation, extensive data coverage is available during on-orbit storage of the satellites when they were spinning. During these times, well resolved pitch angle distributions have been obtained using the simultaneous electron and magnetic field measurements. These measurements are available from late 1998 to the present, allowing us to characterize the radiation belt electron pitch angle distributions as a function of local time, flux level, and geomagnetic activity during key phases of the current solar cycle.
DE: 2720 Energetic particles, trapped
DE: 2778 Ring current
DE: 2788 Storms and substorms
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting