Space Physics Seminar winter-2019

The dynamics of multi-MeV electrons in the Earth’s outer radiation belt is extremely variable. Electrons can remain trapped for long periods of time but can also vary several orders of magnitude on timescales of a few hours to a few days. This extreme variability is ultimately driven by the solar wind and since prediction of relativistic electron enhancements is a problem of great interest to the scientific community, understanding the connections between solar wind and magnetospheric parameters, and flux levels of MeV electrons can lead to improvements in our prediction potential. Using in-situ measurements from the solar wind (OMNI database) and flux levels from the outer radiation belt (GOES, Van Allen Probes) we explore the relationship between different geomagnetic perturbations and the increases in fluxes of relativistic (MeV) electrons. We aim to (1) establish what solar wind parameters are statistically relevant for the enhancement and depletion of MeV electrons at geostationary orbit independent of storm-time condition and (2) study the extent of this solar wind influence outer belt.