Lightning‐Induced Precipitation as a Proxy for Inner Belt MeV Electron Decay Times | CU Experts

Abstract; Understanding the dynamics of ultrarelativistic ( MeV) electrons presents an ongoing challenge in the quest to accurately model space weather conditions. These electrons have historically been difficult to detect in the inner radiation belt due to contamination of measurements by high energy protons, leading to sparse empirical data informing their evolution and decay. To aid in this effort, we present a long‐term study of MeV electron burst events detected in the inner radiation belt and slot region. We search 16 years of Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle EXplorer/Heavy Ion Large Telescope data for microbursts at and identify bouncing packets of electrons, as the bounce period can be used to confirm particle species and energy. Using this catalog, we investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of the number of bouncing packet events, and use these as proxy for the MeV electron population in the inner belt and slot region. We find that the number of events is associated with increases in geomagnetic activity and decays over timescales on the order of 10 s of days. These results demonstrate the ability of long term observations of bouncing packets to probe the dynamics of MeV electrons in the inner belt and slot region.

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