New Chorus Diffusion Coefficients for Radiation Belt Modeling

Relativistic electrons in the Earth's outer radiation belt are a significant space weather hazard. The belt, which lies at altitudes from 13,000 to 40,000 km in the Earth's magnetic equatorial plane, is highly dynamic with fluxes of relativistic electrons varying by orders of magnitude on timescales ranging from minutes to months. This variability is controlled by a variety of transport, acceleration and loss processes. One particularly important process is the interaction with a plasma wave, known as chorus. These waves play a significant role in both the acceleration and loss of energetic electrons. In this study we derive new diffusion rates for these interactions and find that the rates can exceed those in our earlier models by up to a factor of 10. The new diffusion rates will be incorporated into the British Antarctic Survey Radiation Belt Model to produce better space weather models and forecasts.

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