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Solar Wind and Geomagnetic Conditions that Lead to the Largest Relativistic Electron Fluxes in GPS Orbit

Relativistic electrons are an important space weather hazard, being a major source of radiation damage to satellites and posing a risk to humans in space. We use approximately 20 years of data from the US Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite NS41 to determine the characteristics of the geomagnetic storms that lead to the largest relativistic electron fluxes in GPS orbit. The largest CME-driven events are associated with the solar wind having negative excursions of the IMF Bz with minimum values of ~-14 nT two hours prior to zero epoch, defined as the time of the minimum in the Dst index and strong Dst minima, reaching ~-130 nT at zero epoch. In contrast, events driven by high speed solar wind streams (HSSs) are associated with smaller negative excursions of IMF Bz with minimum values of ~-4 nT two hours prior to zero epoch and moderate Dst minima, reaching ~-60 nT at zero epoch. Compared with HSS-driven events, peak E = 2.0 MeV fluxes associated with CME-driven events are larger by factors of 1.3 at L=4.5 and 2.4 at L=6.5. Both the CME- and HSS-driven events are associated with enhancements in the solar wind number density and pressure prior to zero epoch. Following zero epoch the solar wind number density and pressure become low and substorm activity is enhanced for several days.

Simple

Date (Creation)
2025-10-01
Date (Revision)
2025-10-01
Date (Publication)
2025-10-01
Date (released)
2025-10-01
Edition
1.0
Unique resource identifier
https://doi.org/10.5285/b6d3de94-c1db-42f6-9342-061f6b74d99c
Codespace
doi
Unique resource identifier
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02088
Codespace
https://data.bas.ac.uk/
Other citation details
Please cite this item as: Meredith, N., Bortnik, J., Hua, M., Cayton, T., Clilverd, M., Daggitt, T., & Bunting, K. (2025). Solar Wind and Geomagnetic Conditions that Lead to the Largest Relativistic Electron Fluxes in GPS Orbit (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/b6d3de94-c1db-42f6-9342-061f6b74d99c
Credit
No credit.
Status
completed Completed
Author
  British Antarctic Survey - Meredith, Nigel ( Researcher )
Author
  UCLA - Bortnik, Jacob ( Researcher )
Author
  UCLA - Hua, Man ( Researcher )
Author
  Retired - Cayton, Thomas ( Researcher )
Author
  British Antarctic Survey - Clilverd, Mark ( Researcher )
Author
  British Antarctic Survey - Daggitt, Thomas ( Researcher )
Author
  British Antarctic Survey - Bunting, Kaine ( Researcher )
Point of contact
  NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road , Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , CB3 0ET , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 221400
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
Maintenance and update frequency
asNeeded As needed
Maintenance note
completed Completed
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
  • EARTH SCIENCE > Sun-earth Interactions > Solar Energetic Particle Flux > Electron Flux
  • EARTH SCIENCE > Sun-earth Interactions > Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Dynamics > Magnetic Storms
Theme
  • Geomagnetic storms
  • Medium Earth orbit
  • Relativistic electrons
Place
  • Global
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
  • Atmospheric conditions
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations to public access
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations
Use constraints
license License
Other constraints
This dataset is supplied under the Open Government Licence v3.0: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
Unique resource identifier
url
Codespace
url
Association Type
crossReference Cross reference
Spatial representation type
textTable Text, table
Metadata language
engEnglish
Character set
utf8 UTF8
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information
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Begin date
2000-12-10
End date
2020-07-25
Supplemental Information
It is recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of any data, and that the author be contacted with any questions regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, please report them to polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk.
Date (Publication)
2008-11-12
Publisher
  European Petroleum Survey Group
https://www.epsg-registry.org/
Unique resource identifier
urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3031
Version
6.18.3

Distributor

Distributor
  NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road , Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , CB3 0ET , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 221400
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
Units of distribution
bytes
Transfer size
1
OnLine resource
Get Data ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link )

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dataset Dataset
Statement

Methodology:

The data used in this study were collected by the Burst Detector Dosimeter IIR (BDD-IIR) on board the US GPS satellite NS41. The data is publicly available from http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/space-weather/satellite-data/satellite-systems/gps/data/ns41. Full details of the subsequent analysis are given in Meredith et al. (2025).

Data collection:

BDD-IIR is a multi-purpose silicon detector system. It features 8 individual channels of a "shield/filter/sensor" design that permits the detector to sample roughly half the celestial sphere while at the same time shielding the silicon sensor elements from most of the incident particle flux.

Data quality:

The particle data have been calibrated and quality-controlled prior to release.

File identifier
b6d3de94-c1db-42f6-9342-061f6b74d99c XML
Metadata language
engEnglish
Character set
utf8 UTF8
Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Hierarchy level name
dataset
Date stamp
2025-10-01
Metadata standard name
ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
ISO 19115:2003(E)
Point of contact
  NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road , Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , CB3 0ET , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 221400
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
 
 

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Keywords

Geomagnetic storms Medium Earth orbit Relativistic electrons
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
Atmospheric conditions
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
EARTH SCIENCE > Sun-earth Interactions > Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Dynamics > Magnetic Storms EARTH SCIENCE > Sun-earth Interactions > Solar Energetic Particle Flux > Electron Flux

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