METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MONITORING THE PRECIPITATION OF PARTICLES IN THE MAGNETOSPHERE

摘要

A method (100) for monitoring the precipitation of magnetospheric particles, comprising the steps of: detecting (101) charged magnetospheric particles by at least one particles detector (10) installed on board at least one satellite vehicle (1) in orbit (2) associating the detected particles with respective detection data; processing (102) the detection data to associate a respective estimate or measurement of kinetic energy with the detected magnetospheric particles; obtaining a first count value NH (104) correlated to the number of charged particles, detected in a period of time, which is associated with a relatively higher estimate or measurement of kinetic energy included in a first energy range; obtaining a second count value NL (105) correlated to the number of charged particles, detected in said period of time, which is associated with a relatively lower estimate or measurement of kinetic energy included in a second energy range; detecting a relative variation (106) of the second count value NL with respect to the first count value NH; determining (110) that in the aforementioned period of time an impulsive event of precipitation of charged particles in the magnetosphere occurred MPP event comparing the aforementioned variation with a threshold value; assigning (109) to the MPP event a geomagnetic longitude and a time in which the MPP event occurred; defining (110) one or more groups of MPP events, each group comprising MPP events which occurred in a time range at the same geomagnetic longitude or at relatively close geomagnetic longitudes; identifying (111) a group of MPP events as indicative of an activity of terrestrial origin, such as a pre-seismic o seismic activity, for example, based on the number of MPP events included in the group and/or based on the associated variations found in the detecting step (109).