JapaneseGEMSIS-Magnetosphere
Development of the GEMSIS Radiation Belt Model
The magnetic field configuration in the Earth's magnetosphere is changed considerably during magnetic storms. The change strongly affects the radiation belts, which consist of high-energy relativistic electrons. In order to better understand the radiation belt behavior and dynamics, we developed a three-dimensional relativistic test-particle code to calculate the trajectories of relativistic electrons in the outer radiation belt.
We examined the evolution of the outer belt electrons associated with the enhancement of the solar wind dynamic pressure. The simulation results confirmed the drift loss of relativistic electrons due to the so-called magnetopause shadowing (MPS) effect (i.e., loss into the interplanetary medium). We also found a split in the outer radiation belt on the dayside. The split depends on magnetic tilt angles. These results suggest that a realistic magnetic field model is essential for better understanding of the outer radiation belt dynamics.
References: Saito et al., JGR, 2010; Saito et al., JGR, 2012