Takeshi Takashima

Abstract Variations of relativistic electron fluxes (E ≥ 1 MeV) and wave activity in the Earth magnetosphere are studied to determine the contribution of different acceleration mechanisms of the outer radiation belt electrons: ULF mechanism, VLF mechanism, and adiabatic acceleration. The electron fluxes were measured by Arase satellite and geostationary GOES satellites. The ULF power index is used to characterize the magnetospheric wave activity in the Pc5 range. To characterize the VLF wave activity in the magnetosphere, we use data from PWE instrument of Arase satellite. We consider some of the most powerful magnetic storms during the Arase era: May 27–29, 2017; September 7–10, 2017; and August 25–28, 2018. Also, non-storm intervals with a high solar wind speed before and after these storms for comparison are analyzed. Magnitudes of relativistic electron fluxes during these magnetic storms are found to be greater than that during non-storm intervals with high solar wind streams. During magnetic storms, the flux intensity maximum shifts to lower L-shells compared to intervals without magnetic storms. For the considered events, the substorm activity, as characterized by AE index, is found to be a necessary condition for the increase of relativistic electron fluxes, whereas a high solar wind speed alone is not sufficient for the relativistic electron growth. The enhancement of relativistic electron fluxes by 1.5–2 orders of magnitude is observed 1–3 days after the growth of the ULF index and VLF emission power. The growth of VLF and ULF wave powers coincides with the growth of substorm activity and occurs approximately at the same time. Both mechanisms operate at the first phase of electron acceleration. At the second phase of electron acceleration, the mechanism associated with the injection of electrons into the region of the magnetic field weakened by the ring current and their subsequent betatron acceleration during the magnetic field restoration can work effectively. Graphical Abstract

During July to October of 2019, a sequence of isolated Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) impacted the magnetosphere, for four consecutive solar rotations, without any interposed Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections. Even though the series of CIRs resulted in relatively weak geomagnetic storms, the net effect of the outer radiation belt during each disturbance was different, depending on the electron energy. During the August-September CIR group, significant multi-MeV electron enhancements occurred, up to ultra-relativistic energies of 9.9 MeV in the heart of the outer Van Allen radiation belt. These characteristics deemed this time period a fine case for studying the different electron acceleration mechanisms. In order to do this, we exploited coordinated data from the Van Allen Probes, the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms Mission (THEMIS), Arase and Galileo satellites, covering seed, relativistic and ultra-relativistic electron populations, investigating their Phase Space Density (PSD) profile dependence on the values of the second adiabatic invariant K, ranging from near-equatorial to off equatorial mirroring populations. Our results indicate that different acceleration mechanisms took place for different electron energies. The PSD profiles were dependent not only on the mu value, but also on the K value, with higher K values corresponding to more pronounced local acceleration by chorus waves. The 9.9 MeV electrons were enhanced prior to the 7.7 MeV, indicating that different mechanisms took effect on different populations. Finally, all ultra-relativistic enhancements took place below geosynchronous orbit, emphasizing the need for more Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) missions.