Speaker
Description
Astroparticles can get trapped in the Earth’s magnetosphere. There are a number of measurements of protons, electrons, heavy ions, solar energetic protons, galactic cosmic rays, as well as positrons in near-Earth space. The high-energy electrons in the Earth’s radiation belts were discovered by the first US satellite Explorer-1, which was designed to study cosmic rays. In the proposed project, we will explore measurements of heliophysical particles in space using data from different satellite missions and develop machine learning-based models to monitor and now-cast the high-energy particle environment. Astrophysical particles can also cause chains of particle generation. Precipitation of energetic particles from space can generate nitric oxide in the atmosphere, and nitric oxide destroys ozone very efficiently. Geomagnetic activity that controls the precipitation of magnetospheric particles is now recommended as part of the solar forcing of the climate system for model experiments. However, it is not clear which particles and at which energies play the largest role. The complication of estimating the effect of the precipitating particles usually arises from the fact that measurements are sparse and the global models of the precipitating particle environment are not available. In this project, we will utilize a range of measurements and models to develop maps of the precipitating particle environment and study how atmospheric parameters can be correlated with our predictive maps of precipitation. In this presentation, we will show our model results for the precipitating electrons from the magnetosphere to the atmosphere.
