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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 397 records · Page 22

The Impact of the 8–10 March 2012 Geomagnetic Storm on Inner Zone Protons as Measured by Van Allen Probes

The Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope (REPT) instrument on the Van Allen Probes observed a double-peaked inner zone proton population throughout the 7 year lifetime of the mission. M. Hudson et al. (2023) showed that a strong SEP event accompanied by a CME-shock in early March 2012 provided the Solar Energetic Proton (SEP) source for the higher L trapped proton population, which then diffused radially inward to be observed by REPT at L = 2. The study followed trajectories of SEP protons launched isotropically from a sphere at 7 Re for 2.5 hr in fields calculated by the LFM-RCM global MHD model, which includes electric fields needed to model the transport and trapping of the protons by the shock, and then a radial diffusion simulation was run for 2 years using the result from the test-particle simulation as the initial condition. The simulation result was compared with REPT measurement in November 2013 and showed reasonable agreement. However, the simulation overestimated the Phase Space Density by a factor of four due to lack of field line curvature scattering during the storm in the model. In this study, a test-particle simulation is performed for 2 days following the injection and trapping of protons in March 2012 using TS05 fields to simulate the field line curvature scattering of the trapped SEP due to the buildup of the ring current during the geomagnetic storm. The resulting sample distribution was then weighted using the flux at the end of the two-hour MHD-test particle simulation. A radial diffusion simulation is then run using the initial profile that included the loss effect, with improved comparison with REPT measurements after 2 years.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A revised

Revised McIlwain /B, L/ coordinate system for removing symmetric ring currents and other magnetospheric distortions effects from satellite particle data

Kavanagh, L. D., Jr.↗

Low latitude negative bays.

Negative bays caused by growth of asymmetric storm time radiation belt, noting relation between auroral substorm, polar magnetic substorm and ring current

Akasofu, S.-I.↗

Charged particles in the magnetosphere.

Charged particle population dynamics in outer radiation zone of magnetosphere, discussing ring current particles, protons, electrons, alpha particles and electric field

Van Allen, J. A.↗

Magnetospheric substorm.

Polar upper atmospheric phenomena interpreted as magnetospheric substorm manifestations, discussing role of asymmetric ring current formation

Akasofu, S.-I.↗

Magnetospheric substorm of August 25-26, 1967

Temporal history of 25-26 August 1967 magnetospheric substorm, discussing magnetotail plasma sheet thinning, partial ring current buildup and magnetic bays development

Hones, E. W., Jr.↗

Quiet-time observation of a coherent compressional Pc-4 micropulsation at synchronous altitude

During a magnetically quiet interval the magnetic-field intensity and energetic electron fluxes at ATS 1 exhibited coherent modulations having a frequency of 33.8 cph and a duration of approximately 40 oscillations. The electron fluxes and the magnetic field oscillated in phase. The field perturbation reached 8 jamma (peak to peak) in the direction of the unperturbed geomagnetic field. The transverse component of the field perturbation was practically zero. The characteristics of the observed oscillations appear compatible with those of a compressional excitation of the outer magnetosphere. The substantially radial normal mode is perhaps driven by a bounce-resonant interaction with the 15-keV protons that populate the quiet-day ring current.

Paulikas, G. A.↗

Plasma entry into the earth's magnetosphere

Both high- and low-altitude measurements are used to establish the salient features of the three regions presently thought to be the best candidates for the entry of magnetosheath plasma into the magnetosphere, and hence the primal sources of charged particles for the plasma sheet and its earthward termination in the ring current. These three regions are (1) the polar cusps and their extensions into the nighttime magnetosphere, (2) the downstream flanks of the magnetosphere at geocentric radial distances approximately equal to 10 to 50 earth radii along the plasma sheet-magnetosheath interface, and (3) the distant magnetotail at radial distances greater than or approximately equal to 50 earth radii. Present observational knowledge of each of these regions is discussed critically as to evidences for charged particle entry into the magnetosphere from the magnetosheath. The possibility that all three of these magnetospheric domains share an intimate topological relationship is also examined.

Frank, L. A.↗

Observations of proton spectra (1.0 less than or equal to proton energy less than or equal to 300 keV) and pitch angle distributions at the plasmapause

Detailed proton spectral and pitch angle distribution observations were obtained from two proton detectors and a fluxgate magnetometer flown on Small Scientific Satellite A (Explorer 45). The data of interest are from orbit 99 in-bound occurring on 17 December 1971, some 8 hours prior to the sudden commencement of a magnetic storm. The data are consistent with the initiation of ion cyclotron instability when certain requirements are met. These criteria are met initially at the altitude at which the sudden intensity decrease occurs. However, after the initiation of the instability, the linear theory is unable to explain the further evolution of intensities, pitch angle distributions, and energy spectra of the ring current particles.

Williams, D. J.↗

Magnetospheric-field distortions observed by OGO 3 and 5.

The rubidium vapor magnetometer data of the scalar magnetic-field intensity obtained by the OGO 3 and 5 satellites are analyzed to study the magnetospheric-field distortions in terms of the observed field magnitude under quiet and slightly disturbed conditions minus the magnitude of the reference geomagnetic field (delta B). Average contours of equal delta Bs are shown in the geomagnetic noon-midnight and dawn-dusk meridian planes for magnetically quiet and slightly disturbed conditions. The equatorial distribution of observed delta Bs as a function of geocentric distance differs substantially from that expected from the well-known models of the quiet-time ring current. Other findings suggest that there must be a population of low-energy particles with substantial total energy near the equator at distances of 2 to 5 earth radii that has not been recognized as having sufficient energy to inflate the magnetic field.

Sugiura, M.↗