D Baker RadBelt

Acceleration and Extreme Distortion Within the Van Allen Radiation Belts During the “Halloween” Solar Storms of 2003: 

Acceleration and Extreme Distortion Within the Van Allen Radiation Belts During the “Halloween” Solar Storms of 2003 D.N. Baker, S. P. Monk, S.G. Kanekal, X. Li Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado-Boulder J. Goldstein, J.L. Burch Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio

October 2003 Events: 

October 2003 Events

October-November 2003 Storms: 

October-November 2003 Storms 10/28  - 310 nT 10/29  - 347 nT 11/02  - 40 nT 11/04  only SC SOHO/LASCO CMEs and the storms they produced

High-Energy Electrons: 17 Oct.-1 Dec.: 

High-Energy Electrons: 17 Oct.-1 Dec.

Day-to-Day Variation of the Radiation Belts: 

Day-to-Day Variation of the Radiation Belts

Selected Days: Outer Belt Properties: 

Selected Days: Outer Belt Properties

EUV Images of the Plasmasphere: 

EUV Images of the Plasmasphere Plasmasphere He+ 15% plasmasphere Global EUV He+ Image

Sunward Flux in TEC/Plasmasphere PlumeMarch 31, 2001: 

Sunward Flux in TEC/Plasmasphere Plume March 31, 2001 Direct Observation of Velocity and Flux by Millstone Hill ISR Ground-Based GPS Maps TEC Plume [Foster et al., GRL 2002]

Aurora Seen in Colorado: 

Aurora Seen in Colorado 20 Nov. 2003

November 20, 2003 SED Plume: 

November 20, 2003 SED Plume

November 20, 2003 SED Plume: 

November 20, 2003 SED Plume

Regions of Wave-Particle Interactions: 

Regions of Wave-Particle Interactions

Conclusions: 

Conclusions The October-November 2003 solar activity produced spectacular effects in Earth’s radiation environment The radiation belt “slot” region at L = 2 ~ 3 was filled by relativistic electrons to an unprecedented degree SAMPEX, IMAGE and other data give a clear global picture of the plasmasphere and radiation belt enhancement and decay Several important spacecraft operational anomalies were apparently associated with radiation environment changes

High-Energy Electrons: 17 Oct.-1 Dec.: 

High-Energy Electrons: 17 Oct.-1 Dec.

GEO Solar Particle Measurements: 

GEO Solar Particle Measurements Period of main DoD s/c anomalies