糖心TV

The near-Earth plasma environment is home to a region where high-energy electrons are trapped by the Earth鈥檚 magnetic field; this region is known as the outer radiation belt. The amount of high-energy electrons and the extent of the belt in space are highly variable in time. The variability of the belt is likely driven by transient structures in the solar wind, such as coronal mass ejections and corotating interaction regions. The physical mechanisms for the variability of the high-energy electron flux in the outer radiation belt include the influence of wave-particle interactions, injections of high-energy electrons from the tail plasma sheet, and the action of sudden compressions on the magnetosphere. However, we don鈥檛 currently understand the system sufficiently well to be able to reliably connect solar wind variability directly to radiation belt variations.
In this seminar, I will talk about our recent work on the variability of processes in the magnetosphere from an observations perspective. Crucially, I鈥檒l make the link to how we model the outer radiation belt and locate our current (known!) unknowns. We will take a tour through substorm injections, sub-grid wave-particle interactions, and the action of ultra-low frequency waves, culminating with plans for future work and community modelling resources.