Simulations of inner radiation belt proton loss during geomagnetic storms

Abstract

The loss of protons in the outer part of the inner radiation belt (L = 2 to 3) during the 6 April 2000 solar energetic particles event has been investigated using test particle simulations that follow full Lorentz trajectories with both magnetic and electric fields calculated from an empirical model. The electric fields are calculated as inductive fields generated by the time-changing magnetic field, which is achieved by time stepping analytic magnetic fields. The simulation results are compared with proton measurements from the highly elliptical orbit satellite for three different energy ranges (8.5-35 MeV, 16-40 MeV, and 27-45 MeV) as well as previous modeling work done. In previous work, inner zone radiation belt loss during geomagnetic storms has been modeled by simulating field line curvature scattering in static magnetic field snapshots with no electric field. The inclusion of the inductive electric field causes an increase in loss to lower L shells, improving the agreement with the satellite data.