ELFIN-GPS comparison of energetic electron fluxes: modeling low-altitude
electron flux mapping to the equatorial magnetosphere
Abstract
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.