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Identifying Typical Relativistic Electron Pitch Angle Distributions: Evolution During Geomagnetic Storms

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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Identifying Typical Relativistic Electron Pitch Angle Distributions: Evolution During Geomagnetic Storms. / Killey, S.; Rae, I. J.; Smith, A. W. et al.
In: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 52, No. 3, e2024GL112900, 16.02.2025.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Killey, S, Rae, IJ, Smith, AW, Bentley, SN, Watt, CEJ, Chakraborty, S, Ozeke, LG, Walach, MT, Sandhu, JK & Rasinskaite, D 2025, 'Identifying Typical Relativistic Electron Pitch Angle Distributions: Evolution During Geomagnetic Storms', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 52, no. 3, e2024GL112900. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl112900

APA

Killey, S., Rae, I. J., Smith, A. W., Bentley, S. N., Watt, C. E. J., Chakraborty, S., Ozeke, L. G., Walach, M. T., Sandhu, J. K., & Rasinskaite, D. (2025). Identifying Typical Relativistic Electron Pitch Angle Distributions: Evolution During Geomagnetic Storms. Geophysical Research Letters, 52(3), Article e2024GL112900. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl112900

Vancouver

Killey S, Rae IJ, Smith AW, Bentley SN, Watt CEJ, Chakraborty S et al. Identifying Typical Relativistic Electron Pitch Angle Distributions: Evolution During Geomagnetic Storms. Geophysical Research Letters. 2025 Feb 16;52(3):e2024GL112900. Epub 2025 Feb 9. doi: 10.1029/2024gl112900

Author

Killey, S. ; Rae, I. J. ; Smith, A. W. et al. / Identifying Typical Relativistic Electron Pitch Angle Distributions : Evolution During Geomagnetic Storms. In: Geophysical Research Letters. 2025 ; Vol. 52, No. 3.

Bibtex

@article{b99462a9e55a48ba83fba942cf7ebd98,
title = "Identifying Typical Relativistic Electron Pitch Angle Distributions: Evolution During Geomagnetic Storms",
abstract = "Van Allen radiation belt electron dynamics are governed by a multitude of physical processes that can simultaneously drive acceleration, transport and loss. However, each individual process can be linked to a specific energy‐dependent pitch angle distribution (PAD). We employ a new, unsupervised machine learning technique on 7‐year of Van Allen Probe Relativistic Electron‐Proton Telescope data and discover that six PADs successfully describe 93% of outer belt relativistic electrons, two each of: pancake, butterfly, and flattop. We investigate the occurrence and storm‐time evolution of each PAD through 45 geomagnetic storms. We find new populations of PADs, including: “shadowing‐like” and wave‐particle interaction signatures at low‐L, and radial diffusion and substorm injections at higher‐L, as well as determining that wave‐particle interaction dominated PADs are swamped by radial diffusion processes through geomagnetic storms. Our results clearly demonstrate that PAD characterization is a key component of understanding Van Allen radiation belt electron dynamics.",
keywords = "relativistic electrons, pitch angle distributions, geomagnetic storms, evolution, outer radiation belt",
author = "S. Killey and Rae, {I. J.} and Smith, {A. W.} and Bentley, {S. N.} and Watt, {C. E. J.} and S. Chakraborty and Ozeke, {L. G.} and M.‐T. Walach and Sandhu, {J. K.} and D. Rasinskaite",
year = "2025",
month = feb,
day = "16",
doi = "10.1029/2024gl112900",
language = "English",
volume = "52",
journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",
issn = "0094-8276",
publisher = "John Wiley & Sons, Ltd",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Identifying Typical Relativistic Electron Pitch Angle Distributions

T2 - Evolution During Geomagnetic Storms

AU - Killey, S.

AU - Rae, I. J.

AU - Smith, A. W.

AU - Bentley, S. N.

AU - Watt, C. E. J.

AU - Chakraborty, S.

AU - Ozeke, L. G.

AU - Walach, M.‐T.

AU - Sandhu, J. K.

AU - Rasinskaite, D.

PY - 2025/2/16

Y1 - 2025/2/16

N2 - Van Allen radiation belt electron dynamics are governed by a multitude of physical processes that can simultaneously drive acceleration, transport and loss. However, each individual process can be linked to a specific energy‐dependent pitch angle distribution (PAD). We employ a new, unsupervised machine learning technique on 7‐year of Van Allen Probe Relativistic Electron‐Proton Telescope data and discover that six PADs successfully describe 93% of outer belt relativistic electrons, two each of: pancake, butterfly, and flattop. We investigate the occurrence and storm‐time evolution of each PAD through 45 geomagnetic storms. We find new populations of PADs, including: “shadowing‐like” and wave‐particle interaction signatures at low‐L, and radial diffusion and substorm injections at higher‐L, as well as determining that wave‐particle interaction dominated PADs are swamped by radial diffusion processes through geomagnetic storms. Our results clearly demonstrate that PAD characterization is a key component of understanding Van Allen radiation belt electron dynamics.

AB - Van Allen radiation belt electron dynamics are governed by a multitude of physical processes that can simultaneously drive acceleration, transport and loss. However, each individual process can be linked to a specific energy‐dependent pitch angle distribution (PAD). We employ a new, unsupervised machine learning technique on 7‐year of Van Allen Probe Relativistic Electron‐Proton Telescope data and discover that six PADs successfully describe 93% of outer belt relativistic electrons, two each of: pancake, butterfly, and flattop. We investigate the occurrence and storm‐time evolution of each PAD through 45 geomagnetic storms. We find new populations of PADs, including: “shadowing‐like” and wave‐particle interaction signatures at low‐L, and radial diffusion and substorm injections at higher‐L, as well as determining that wave‐particle interaction dominated PADs are swamped by radial diffusion processes through geomagnetic storms. Our results clearly demonstrate that PAD characterization is a key component of understanding Van Allen radiation belt electron dynamics.

KW - relativistic electrons

KW - pitch angle distributions

KW - geomagnetic storms

KW - evolution

KW - outer radiation belt

U2 - 10.1029/2024gl112900

DO - 10.1029/2024gl112900

M3 - Journal article

VL - 52

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

SN - 0094-8276

IS - 3

M1 - e2024GL112900

ER -