We investigate the dynamics of relativistic electrons in the Earth’s outer radiation belt by analyzing the interplay of several key physical processes: electron losses due to pitch angle scattering from electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves and chorus waves, and electron flux increases from chorus wave-driven acceleration of ~100-300 keV seed electrons injected from the plasma sheet. We examine a weak geomagnetic storm on April 17, 2021, using observations from various spacecraft, including GOES, Van Allen Probes, ERG/ARASE, MMS, ELFIN, and POES. Despite strong EMIC- and chorus wave-driven electron precipitation in the outer radiation belt, trapped 0.1-1.5 MeV electron fluxes actually increased. We use theoretical estimates of electron quasi-linear diffusion rates by chorus and EMIC waves, based on statistics of their wave power distribution, to examine the role of those waves in the observed relativistic electron flux variations. We find that a significant supply of 100-300 keV electrons by plasma sheet injections together with chorus wave-driven acceleration can overcome the rate of chorus and EMIC wave-driven electron losses through pitch angle scattering toward the loss cone, explaining the observed net increase in electron fluxes. Our study emphasizes the importance of simultaneously taking into account resonant wave-particle interactions and modeled local energy gradients of electron phase space density following injections, to accurately forecast the dynamical evolution of trapped electron fluxes.

Near-equatorial measurements of energetic electron fluxes, in combination with numerical simulation, are widely used for monitoring of the radiation belt dynamics. However, the long orbital periods of near-equatorial spacecraft constrain the cadence of observations to once per several hours or greater, i.e., much longer than the mesoscale injections and rapid local acceleration and losses of energetic electrons of interest. An alternative approach for radiation belt monitoring is to use measurements of low-altitude spacecraft, which cover, once per hour or faster, the latitudinal range of the entire radiation belt within a few minutes. Such an approach requires, however, a procedure for mapping the flux from low equatorial pitch angles (near the loss cone) as measured at low altitude, to high equatorial pitch angles (far from the loss cone), as necessitated by equatorial flux models. Here we do this using the high energy resolution ELFIN measurements of energetic electrons. Combining those with GPS measurements we develop a model for the electron anisotropy coefficient, n, that describes electron flux jtrap dependence on equatorial pitch-angle, αeq, jtrap ∼ sinnαeq. We then validate this model by comparing its equatorial predictions from ELFIN with in-situ near-equatorial measurements from Arase (ERG) in the outer radiation belt.

Energetic electron losses by pitch-angle scattering and precipitation to the atmosphere from the radiation belts are controlled, to a great extent, by resonant wave particle interactions with whistler-mode waves. The efficacy of such precipitation is primarily controlled by wave intensity, although its relative importance, compared to other wave and plasma parameters, remains unclear. Precipitation spectra from the low-altitude, polar-orbiting ELFIN mission have previously been demonstrated to be consistent with energetic precipitation modeling derived from empirical models of field-aligned wave power across a wide-swath of local-time sectors. However, such modeling could not explain the intense, relativistic electron precipitation observed on the nightside. Therefore, this study aims to additionally consider the contributions of three modifications – wave obliquity, frequency spectrum, and local plasma density – to explain this discrepancy on the nightside. By incorporating these effects into both test particle simulations and quasi-linear diffusion modeling, we find that realistic implementations of each individual modification result in only slight changes to the electron precipitation spectrum. However, these modifications, when combined, enable more accurate modeling of ELFIN-observed spectra. In particular, a significant reduction in plasma density enables lower frequency waves, oblique, or even quasi-field aligned waves to resonate with near $\sim1$ MeV electrons closer to the equator. We demonstrate that the levels of modification required to accurately reproduce the nightside spectra of whistler-mode wave-driven relativistic electron precipitation match empirical expectations, and should therefore be included in future radiation belt modeling.

The spatial scales of whistler-mode waves, determined by their generation process, propagation, and damping, are important for assessing the scaling and efficiency of wave-particle interactions affecting the dynamics of the radiation belts. We use multi-point wave measurements by two Van Allen Probes in 2013-2019 covering all MLTs at L=2-6 to investigate the spatial extent of active regions of chorus and hiss waves, their wave amplitude distribution in the source/generation region, and the scales of chorus wave packets, employing a time-domain correlation technique to the spacecraft approaches closer than 1000 km, which happened every 70 days in 2012-2018 and every 35 days in 2018-2019. The correlation of chorus wave power dynamics using is found to remain significant up to inter-spacecraft separations of 400 km to 750 km transverse to the background magnetic field direction, consistent with previous estimates of the chorus wave packet extent. Our results further suggest that the chorus source region can be slightly asymmetrical, more elongated in either the azimuthal or radial direction, which could also explain the aforementioned two different scales. An analysis of average chorus and hiss wave amplitudes at separate locations similarly shows the reveals different radial and azimuthal extents of the corresponding wave active regions, complementing previous results based on THEMIS spacecraft statistics mainly at larger L>6. Both the chorus source region scale and the chorus active region size appear smaller inside the outer radiation belt (at L< 6) than at higher L-shells.