基于NOAA/POES卫星观测的磁层相对论电子起源的初探

本文利用低高度极轨卫星NOAA/POES的观测数据，并结合ACE卫星和Polar卫星的观测结果，研究分析了磁层相对论电子的起源. NOAA/POES卫星对于不同地磁活动时期相对论电子的分布和起源进行了较为详细观测, 分析结果表明（1） 亚暴期间注入磁层的能量电子可以为与磁暴相关的磁层高能电子暴提供种子电子；（2）太阳质子事件期间太阳风中的能量电子也可以为磁层中的相对论电子提供所需要的源.     

行星际扰动和地磁活动对GEO相对论电子影响

利用1988—2010年小时平均的GOES卫星数据,对地球同步轨道(GEO)相对论电子变化进行了统计分析,研究了相对论电子通量(Fe)增强事件的发展过程,探讨了利于相对论电子通量增强的太阳风和地磁活动条件.主要结论如下:(1)GEO相对论电子通量即使是峰值,也具有明显的地方时特性,最大电子通量出现在磁正午时.午/夜电子通量比率随着太阳风速度(Vsw)增加而增大;在Dst-50nT时相对论电子具有规则的地方时变化.在太阳活动下降相,电子通量与各参数的相关性较好,与其相关性最好的Vsw、Kp指数以及三次根号下的太阳风密度(N)分别出现在电子通量前39~57h、57~80h和12~24h.(2)强(日平均电子通量峰值Femax≥104 pfu)相对论电子事件,在距离太阳活动谷年前两年左右和春秋分期间发生率最高,较弱(104Femax≥103 pfu)事件无此特点;大部分强相对论电子事件中,电子通量在磁暴主相开始增加,较弱事件中则在恢复相开始回升.(3)太阳风密度变化对相对论电子事件的发展具有重要指示作用.电子通量在太阳风密度极大值后0~1天达到极小值,太阳风密度极小值后0~2天达到极大值.(4)90%以上相对论电子事件是在磁暴及高速太阳风的条件下发生的,与其伴随的行星际参数和地磁活动指数极值满足以下条件:Vswmax516km/s,Dstmin-31nT,Nmin2.8cm-3,Nmax14.1cm-3,Bzmin-2.9nT,AEmax698nT.(5)磁暴过程中,Dstmin后日平均电子通量大于103 pfu的发生概率为53%左右,强/弱相对论电子事件占总数比例分别为36%/64%左右,磁暴强度对其无影响.磁暴过程中的Vsw、N和AE指数大小对于能否引起相对论电子增强起着指示作用.     

基于中性原子通量数据的磁暴期间环电流研究

本文通过分析两次大磁暴期间的中性原子(ENA)通量数据,试图揭示环电流离子通量的变化规律,进一步探讨环电流的形成和损失机制,以及磁暴和亚暴的关系.两次磁暴期间ENA通量的变化呈现出一些重要的特征:(1)通量随能量的增高而快速降低,磁暴主相期间高能端通量所占比重增大;(2)通量比例曲线的起伏远比通量曲线的起伏要平缓;(3)通量的起伏与AE指数之间没有简单的对应关系;(4)磁暴恢复相开始前,ENA通量出现短时间的猛烈增长,特别是低能端通量的增长异常迅速;(5)Dst/SYM-H指数快速恢复期间,ENA通量的变化表现为两个完全不同的阶段:先降低,后增大.忽略影响ENA通量的其他次要因素,ENA通量的上述特征直接反映了环电流的发展规律.环电流离子通量随能量的增高快速下降,磁暴主相期间可能由于高能O⁺的增加使得能谱有所变硬.离子主要受南向行星际磁场(IMF)所引起的对流电场的驱动注入到环电流区域,通量的变化大体上是无色散的.亚暴活动与环电流的增长没有直接的因果关系,但亚暴活动会引起环电流离子通量的短时间尺度波动.恢复相开始前,环电流离子在昏侧区域发生堆积,使得局部离子通量变大.这可能是由于屏蔽电场的形成削弱了内磁层对流电场,造成离子在磁层顶的逃逸损失过程减弱.在Dst/SYM-H指数的快速恢复期间,环电流离子通量的衰减速度也可能发生阶段性变化.这说明Dst/SYM-H指数并不能准确反映环电流的强度,环电流的衰减过程可能具有比先快后慢更为复杂的阶段性模式.     

同步轨道相对论电子通量长期倒空事件的统计研究

地球辐射带中有"杀手"电子之称的相对论电子通量增强和损失过程一直是空间物理学和空间天气学研究的热点.本文通过对20002016年间,地球同步轨道相对论电子通量降低至背景通量水平并持续时间长达3天以上这一特殊现象进行了相关统计研究.从事件的时间分布角度,本文研究了约1.5个太阳活动周内共62例事件随太阳活动水平高低的分布情况,结果表明:在太阳活动周下降期有较少的事件发生,而在峰年、谷年这类事件的发生率与太阳活动水平的高低并没有直接联系.随后,我们对这62例事件在开始、持续、结束三个阶段分别做了一些相关参数的统计,探讨相对论电子通量长期倒空事件的客观规律和产生机制.研究结果表明:事件发生前,太阳风动压、密度的显著增加引起磁层顶向内收缩,等离子体层顶一直维持在高L区域,IMF Bz分量南向和磁暴过程使相对论电子通量通过绝热和非绝热等物理损失机制降至背景通量水平.当这些相对论电子达到背景通量水平后,较弱的太阳风条件和地磁活动水平不足以提供充分的可以使相对论电子通量增长的源;虽然有些相对论电子通量长期倒空事件期间存在中、小磁暴过程,但这些强度较弱的磁暴很可能不会显著地影响同步轨道相对论电子损失和增长的动态平衡,因此相对论电子仍然可以维持在背景通量水平.如果有长时间的亚暴活动和高强度的ULF (Ultra-Low Frequency)波活动发生,太阳风速度显著增加,那么这些物理过程能提供足够的种子电子和持续的加速条件,使得相对论电子通量打破倒空状态,进而呈现显著增长趋势.     

1998年4-5月地球同步轨道MeV电子通量增强事件

采用GOES9卫星观测的能量大于2MeV和大于4MeV电子通量和行星际飞船ACE太阳风参数的高时间分辨率资料,以及磁暴指数Dst资料,分析了1998年4-5月期间地球同步轨道电子通量增强事件的时间和能量响应特征及其与行星际太阳风参数、磁暴和亚暴等扰动条件的对应关系.结果表明,地球同步轨道相对论性（MeV）电子通量增强事件有明显的周日变化,中午极大和午夜极小.4月22日和5月5日开始的两次大事件中,能量大于2MeV电子通量中午极大值上升到最大值的时间尺度分别约为4天和1天,中午极大值高于背景水平的持续时间分别为13天（4月22日-5月4日）和16天（5月4日-20日）以上.每次MeV电子通量增强事件的能量范围不完全相同.两次大事件的上升段都对应于磁暴的恢复相,与太阳风动压脉冲、高速流脉冲和负Bz分量关系密切.     

磁暴期离子上行与太阳风及地磁活动水平的统计关系

利用FAST卫星ESA仪器第23太阳活动周上升相(1997-1998年)的观测数据,选取20个磁暴期间能量为4～300 eV的离子上行事件,研究不同磁暴相位电离层上行离子的能通量与太阳风、地磁活动以及电子沉降的统计关系.结果表明:(1)在磁暴初相、主相和恢复相离子上行平均能通量为6.08×107eV/(cm2·s·sr·eV)、5.75×107eV/(cm2·s·sr·eV)和3.91×107eV/(cm2·s·sr·eV),初相期间上行离子能通量最大;(2)上行离子能通量与太阳风动压、行星际磁场Bz分量存在相关关系,相关系数分别为0.47和-0.38;(3)在磁暴初相、主相和恢复相上行离子能通量与Sym-H的相关系数分别为0.74、-0.77和-0.54,与Kp的相关系数分别为0.53、0.75和0.65,整体上离子上行与Sym-H指数的相关性好于Kp指数;(4)在磁暴初相、主相和恢复相上行离子能通量和电子数通量的相关系数分别为0.74、0.52和0.32,表明磁暴期间软电子(＜1 keV)沉降可以显著提高电离层离子温度;F区的等离子体摩擦加热和双极电场是离子上行的重要获能机制.本文构建的上行离子能通量与Sym-H和电子数通量的经验关系显著,可用于磁流体模拟研究.     

水星磁层亚暴和磁暴

磁层亚暴和磁暴是太阳风—行星磁层耦合过程中发生的能量存储和爆发式释放现象,伴随着复杂的等离子体动力学,对磁层以及整个行星都具有强烈的影响.它们的发生不仅会通过粒子沉降引发绚丽多彩的极光,还可以通过电磁场影响人类以及其他生物的生产生活.对地球上的亚暴和磁暴现象的描述与研究至今已有近百年的历史,然而对其他行星上的亚暴以及磁...     

地球同步轨道附近哨声湍流对“种子电子”的加速

本文在等离子体准线性理论下研究了地球同步轨道附近哨声湍流对亚暴“种子电子”的波-电子共振相互作用. 当发生这种共振时，“种子电子”的动量分布函数经动量扩散而随时间演化，部分低能电子数减少了，而高能尾部分的相对论电子（能量大于1MeV）数增加了，说明“种子电子”得到了哨声湍流的有效加速，且哨声湍流的能量越高，其加速效率越高. 另外，哨声湍流的频率越低（或波数越小），共振电子的能量越高（或单位质量的动量越大）；频率范围越宽，共振电子的能量范围越宽，被加速的电子数也越多. 磁层哨声湍流加速“种子电子” 大约在30h内就可以造成相对论电子数显著增加，这正好和大多数磁暴期间观测到的相对论电子通量的增长时间相当.     

磁层系统的能量输入、输出与日地耦合

用１９７８年和１９８２年３６个磁暴期间的太阳风、行星际磁场（ＩＭＦ）和地磁资料，分析和检验已有的两类太阳风－磁层能量耦合函数．结果表明：Ａｋａｓｏｆｕ提出的耦合函数ε能大致地预报亚暴和磁暴的发生。ε开始起重要作用时即出现亚暴；电离层能耗达到饱和值是发生磁暴的标志。ε与磁层体系能耗之间有接近于对数量的线性关系．用１９７８－１９８６年的资料，分析环电流和极光区电离层能耗在１２１个太阳自转周内的分布表明，日面上可能存在相对持久的活动区域     

2003年11月20日磁暴主相期间磁鞘的观测研究

2003年11月20日磁暴主相期间,Cluster卫星正好处在黄昏侧的磁鞘附近.在主相期间磁鞘磁场Bz分量大约为-60 nT,这和ACE卫星观测值基本一致.同时,磁鞘中的离子速度分布对磁鞘中的磁场方向有很强的依赖性.行星际电场Ey在磁鞘中大约是50 mV/m.磁鞘中这些极端的磁场,电场和离子的流动驱动了迄今23个太阳活动周期中最大的磁暴,其Dst指数是-472 nT.Cluster卫星观测发现磁鞘中离子的数密度比较低,这可能是由磁云经过地球时太阳风的低密度造成的.磁鞘中能量范围为1～10 keV的H+,He+和He2+的数密度主要是由磁鞘中太阳风的数密度决定的.同时,对磁鞘中存在大量的1～10 keV氧离子进行了讨论.在极端的南向行星际磁场条件下,磁层顶受到很强的压缩.氧离子可以利用较大的回旋半径,在强压缩的磁层顶和磁鞘对流的共同影响下进入磁鞘.这也表明了磁层对极端行星际条件的一种响应.Cluster卫星在11月20日磁暴事件中的观测研究,对进一步全面认识大磁暴事件有很重要的作用.     

Relativistic electron losses related to EMIC waves during CIR and CME storms

The losses of radiation belt electrons to the atmosphere due to wave–particle interactions with electromagnetic ion-cyclotron (EMIC) waves during corotating interaction region (CIR) storms compared to coronal mass ejections (CME) storms is investigated. Geomagnetic storms with extended ‘recovery’ phases due to large-amplitude Alfvén waves in the solar wind are associated with relativistic electron flux enhancements in the outer radiation belt. The corotating solar wind streams following a CIR in the solar wind contain large-amplitude Alfvén waves, but also some CME storms with high-speed solar wind can have large-amplitude Alfvén waves and extended ‘recovery’ phases. During both CIR and CME storms the ring current protons are enhanced. In the anisotropic proton zone the protons are unstable for EMIC wave growth. Atmospheric losses of relativistic electrons due to weak to moderate pitch angle scattering by EMIC waves is observed inside the whole anisotropic proton zone. During storms with extended ‘recovery’ phases we observe higher atmospheric loss of relativistic electrons than in storms with fast recovery phases. As the EMIC waves exist in storms with both extended and short recovery phases, the increased loss of relativistic electrons reflects the enhanced source of relativistic electrons in the radiation belt during extended recovery phase storms. The region with the most unstable protons and intense EMIC wave generation, seen as a narrow spike in the proton precipitation, is spatially coincident with the largest loss of relativistic electrons. This region can be observed at all MLTs and is closely connected with the spatial shape of the plasmapause as revealed by simultaneous observations by the IMAGE and the NOAA spacecraft. The observations in and near the atmospheric loss cone show that the CIR and CME storms with extended ‘recovery’ phases produce high atmospheric losses of relativistic electrons, as these storms accelerate electrons to relativistic energies. The CME storm with short recovery phase gives low losses of relativistic electrons due to a reduced level of relativistic electrons in the radiation belt.     

Resonant enhancement of relativistic electron fluxes during geomagnetically active periods

The strong increase in the flux of relativistic electrons during the recovery phase of magnetic storms and during other active periods is investigated with the help of Hamiltonian formalism and simulations of test electrons which interact with whistler waves. The intensity of the whistler waves is enhanced significantly due to injection of 10–100 keV electrons during the substorm. Electrons which drift in the gradient and curvature of the magnetic field generate the rising tones of VLF whistler chorus. The seed population of relativistic electrons which bounce along the inhomogeneous magnetic field, interacts resonantly with the whistler waves. Whistler wave propagating obliquely to the magnetic field can interact with energetic electrons through Landau, cyclotron, and higher harmonic resonant interactions when the Doppler-shifted wave frequency equals any (positive or negative) integer multiple of the local relativistic gyrofrequency. Because the gyroradius of a relativistic electron may be the order of or greater than the perpendicular wavelength, numerous cyclotron, harmonics can contribute to the resonant interaction which breaks down the adiabatic invariant. A similar process diffuses the pitch angle leading to electron precipitation. The irreversible changes in the adiabatic invariant depend on the relative phase between the wave and the electron, and successive resonant interactions result in electrons undergoing a random walk in energy and pitch angle. This resonant process may contribute to the 10–100 fold increase of the relativistic electron flux in the outer radiation belt, and constitute an interesting relation between substorm-generated waves and enhancements in fluxes of relativistic electrons during geomagnetic storms and other active periods.     

Relativistic electron enhancements,magnetic storms,and substorm activity

The relativistic electron fluxes of the Earth's outer radiation belt are subjected to strong temporal variations. The most prominent changes are initiated by fast solar wind streams impinging upon the magnetosphere, which often also cause enhanced substorm activity and magnetic storms. Using 4 years of data from the particle detector REM aboard the UK satellite Strv-1b in a GTO, we investigated the relation between these different appearances of geomagnetic activity. A typical sequence is that there is a drop in the relativistic electron intensity during the main phase of the magnetic storm and a successive enhancement during the recovery phase which sometimes leads to much higher than pre-storm fluxes. Whereas the flux drop is well correlated with the magnetic storm intensity and is mainly due to the deceleration and loss of particles caused by the ring-current-induced magnetic field changes, there is only a bad correlation between the post-storm electron flux and Dst. As we show here, it is much more the level of substorm activity during the whole event which determines the size of the flux enhancements.     

Indicators of an increase in the flux of relativistic electrons in geostationary orbit during geomagnetic storms

The relation of the fluxes of relativistic electrons in geostationary orbit during magnetic storms to the state of the magnetosphere and variations in the solar wind parameters is studied based on the GOES satellite data (1996–2000). It has been established that, in ～52–65% of all storms, the fluxes of electrons with energies higher than 0.6 and 2 MeV during the storm recovery phase are more than twice as high as the electron fluxes before a storm. It has been indicated that the probability of such cases is closely related to the prestorm level of fluxes and to a decrease in fluxes during the storm main phase. It has been found that the solar wind velocity on the day of the storm main phase and the geomagnetic activity indices at the beginning of the storm recovery phase are also among the best indicators of occurrence of storms with increased fluxes at the storm recovery phase.     

Solar-wind–magnetosphere coupling,including relativistic electron energization,during high-speed streams

High geomagnetic activity occurs continuously during high-speed solar wind streams, and fluxes of relativistic electrons observed at geosynchronous orbit enhance significantly. High-speed streams are preceded by solar wind compression regions, during which time there are large losses of relativistic electrons from geosynchronous orbit. Weak to moderate geomagnetic storms often occur during the passage of these compression regions; however, we find that the phenomena that occur during the ensuing high-speed streams do not depend on whether or not a preceding storm develops. Large-amplitude Alfvén waves occur within the high-speed solar wind streams, which are expected to lead to intermittent intervals of significantly enhanced magnetospheric convection and to thus also lead to repetitive substorms due to repetitively occurring reductions in the strength of convection. We find that such repetitive substorms are clearly discernible in the LANL geosynchronous energetic particle data during high-speed stream intervals. Global auroral images are found to show unambiguously that these events are indeed classical substorms, leading us to conclude that substorms are an important contributor to the enhanced geomagnetic activity during high-speed streams. We used the onsets of these substorms as indicators of preceding periods of enhanced convection and of reductions in convection, and we have used ground-based chorus observations from the VELOX instrument at Halley station as an indicator of magnetospheric chorus intensities. These data show evidence that it is the periods of enhanced convection that precede substorm expansions, and not the expansions themselves, that lead to the enhanced dawn-side chorus wave intensity that has been postulated to cause the energization of relativistic electrons. If this inference is correct, and if it is chorus that energizes the relativistic electrons, then high-speed solar wind streams lead to relativistic electron flux enhancements because the embedded large-amplitude Alfvén waves give multi-day periods of intermittent significantly enhanced convection.     

Relativistic electron flux enhancement at synchronous orbit during SEP event on July 14, 2000

Relativistic (E >1.6 MeV) electron flux enhancements during Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events as observed by the synchronous FY-2 satellite at orbit located at 105°E are investigated. Energetic protons during SEP events heavily contaminate relativistic electron flux measurements. The ratio of the contamination in the original measurement of relativistic electron flux was over 30% during most of the SEP event on July 14, 2000. A method has been developed to eliminate the contamination caused by the energetic protons, and a "corrected" relativistic electron flux has been obtained. The "cleaned-up" relativistic electron flux measurement shows that relativistic electron flux enhancement at synchronous orbit is well correlated with SEP events during which the IMF Bz has some southward periods. The enhancement could arise as the transport of relativistic electrons from the upstream solar wind into synchronous orbit via the magnetotail.     

The relation between geomagnetic pulsations and an increase in the fluxes of geosynchronous relativistic electrons during geomagnetic storms

The dynamics of the Pc5 and Pi1 pulsation characteristics and relativistic electron fluxes at geostationary orbit were comparatively analyzed for three nine-day intervals, including quiet periods and periods of geomagnetic storms. It was shown that relativistic electron fluxes increase considerably when the power of global Pc5 pulsations and the index of midlatitude irregular Pi1 pulsations increase simultaneously. The correlation between the characteristics of Pi1 and Pc5 geomagnetic pulsations and the level of the relativistic electron flux at geostationary orbit during the magnetic storm recovery phase were studied. It was shown that the correlation coefficient of the relativistic electron maximal fluxes during the magnetic storm recovery phase with the parameter of midlatitude Pi1 pulsations is slightly higher than such a correlation coefficient with the solar wind velocity.