On the Interplanetary Parameter Schemes which Drive the Variability of the Source/Seed Electron Population at GEO
Authors
C. Katsavrias, S. Aminalragia-Giamini, C. Papadimitriou et al,
Abstract
Electron variability at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) plays a key role in satellite operations especially concerning the low energies which can lead to surface charging effects on spacecraft. In this work, we use 9 years (2011–2019) of electron measurements from GOES-13, 14 and 15 satellites to study the evolution of electron fluxes with respect to various solar, solar wind, and magnetospheric parameters. The source electron fluxes are shown to be well correlated with AE index and Newell’s function, while the seed electron fluxes are shown to be well correlated with solar wind speed. Based on these findings, we have developed a predictive multiple regression model for electron fluxes in the 30–600 keV energy range which uses solely solar wind parameters’ measurements. The model may have a variety of applications related to the nowcasting/forecasting of the distribution of electron fluxes at GEO including serving as low-energy boundary conditions for studying electron acceleration to relativistic energies or providing information for predicting surface and/or internal charging effects on spacecraft.
Year
2021
Venue
Journal of Geophysical Research – Space Physics Volume 126, Issue 6