Oleksiy Dudnik
Institute of Radio Astronomy
Ukraine
Title: Three-belt structure of electron fluxes in the Earth’s magnetosphere as seen by the STEP-F instrument during deep minimum of solar activity
Biography
Biography: Oleksiy Dudnik
Abstract
The analysis of sub relativistic02 electron fluxes at height ~550 km was performed on the base of experimental data obtained in 2009 from the STEP-F instrument installed on board the LEO spacecraft CORONAS Photon. Throughout processed data from selected months of 2009 three belts’ structure of electron fluxes was recorded in the Earth’s magnetosphere due to large geometric factor (~20 cm2*sr) and high sensitivity of the STEP-F instrument. The slot between Van Allen inner and outer radiation belts had not being filled in by particles as it frequently was recorded during strong geomagnetic storms. Instead of it additional steady belt was recorder at L shell ~1.6 distantly not far from the well-known Van Allen inner belt (at L~2.3 for the energy range ∆Ee=0.18 0.51 MeV). The intensity of particles in both: additional and inner belts depended on the level of geomagnetic activity though the latter one in average was very low in 2009, the year of minimum of 11-year’s cycle of solar activity. The Van Allen and new recorded belt at L~1.6 had been registered on the geographic longitudes, which are not coincided with those ones of South Atlantic Anomaly zone location. The energy spectra of electrons populating both innermost belts differ strongly: a harder spectrum was found in the Van Allen inner belt in comparison with the newly detected third one. For the third “additional†radiation belt electrons with energies Ee≥0.4 MeV had not been registered.