Extreme relativistic electron fluxes in GPS orbit: Analysis of NS41 Burst Detector Dosimeter IIR (BDD-IIR) data
Relativistic electrons in the Earth''s outer radiation belt are a significant space weather hazard. Satellites in GPS-type orbits pass through the heart of the outer radiation belt where they may be exposed to large fluxes of relativistic electrons. In this study we conduct an extreme value analysis of the daily average relativistic electron flux in GPS orbit as a function of energy and L using data from the US NS41 satellite from 10 December 2000 to 25 July 2020. The 1 in 10 year flux at L=4.5, in the heart of the outer radiation belt, decreases with increasing energy ranging from 8.2x10^6 cm^-2s^-1sr^-1MeV^-1 at E = 0.6 MeV to 33 cm^-2s^-1sr^-1MeV^-1 at E = 8.0 MeV. The 1 in 100 year is a factor of 1.1 to 1.7 larger than the corresponding 1 in 10 year event. The 1 in 10 year flux at L=6.5, on field lines which map to the vicinity of geostationary orbit, decrease with increasing energy ranging from 6.2x10^5 cm^-2s^-1sr^-1MeV^-1 at E = 0.6 MeV to 0.48 cm^-2s^-1sr^-1MeV^-1 at E = 8.0 MeV. Here, the 1 in 100 year event is a factor of 1.1 to 13 times larger than the corresponding 1 in 10 year event, with the value of the factor increasing with increasing energy. Our analysis suggests that the fluxes of relativistic electrons with energies in the range 0.6 <= E <= 2.0 MeV in the region 4.25 <= L <= 4.75 have an upper bound. In contrast, further out and at higher energies the fluxes of relativistic electrons are largely unbounded.
The research leading to these results has received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grants NE/V00249X/1 (Sat-Risk) and NE/R016038/1.
Simple
- Alternate title
- Polar Data Centre (PDC) record GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01726
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-04-20
- Identifier
- http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/dms/metadata.php?id= / GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01726
- Maintenance and update frequency
- unknown Unknown
- Keywords
-
- NDGO0001
- NERC OAI Harvesting
-
- NERC_DDC
- GCMD Parameter Valids
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- EARTH SCIENCE > Sun-earth Interactions > Solar Energetic Particle Flux > Electron Flux
- Use limitation
- Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.
- Access constraints
- otherRestrictions Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.
- Metadata language
- EnglishEnglish
- Topic category
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- Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
- Begin date
- 2000-12-10
- End date
- 2020-07-25
- Reference system identifier
- OGP / urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326
- Distribution format
-
- Hierarchy level
- dataset Dataset
Domain consistency
- Measure identification
- INSPIRE / Conformity_001
Conformance result
- Date
- Explanation
- See the referenced specification
- Pass
- No
- Statement
- The particle data have been calibrated and quality-controlled prior to release.
- File identifier
- GB_NERC_BAS_PDC_01726 XML
- Metadata language
- EnglishEnglish
- Hierarchy level
- dataset Dataset
- Date stamp
- 2023-04-20
- Metadata standard name
- NERC profile of ISO19115:2003
- Metadata standard version
- 1.0