Global MHD test particle simulations of solar energetic electron trapping in the Earth's radiation belts

摘要

Test-particle trajectories are computed in fields from a global MHD magnetospheric model simulation of the 29 October 2003 Storm Commencement to investigate trapping and transport of solar energetic electrons (SEEs) in the magnetosphere during severe storms. SEEs are found to provide a source population for a newly formed belt of >10 MeV electrons in the Earth's inner zone radiation belts, which was observed following the 29 October 2003 storm. Energy and pitch angle distributions of the new belt are compared with results previously obtained [Kress, B.T., Hudson, M.K., Looper, M.D., Albert, J., Lyon, J.G., Goodrich, C.C., 2007. Global MHD test particle simulations of >10 MeV radiation belt electrons during storm sudden commencement. journal of Geophysical Research 112, A09215, doi:10.1029/2006JA012218], where outer belt electrons were used as a source for the new belt. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.