Accurately characterising the importance of wave-particle interactions in radiation belt dynamics: the pitfalls of statistical wave representations

Murphy, K. R., Mann, I. R., Rae, I. J., Sibeck, D. G. and Watt, C. E. J. (2016) Accurately characterising the importance of wave-particle interactions in radiation belt dynamics: the pitfalls of statistical wave representations. Journal of Geophysical Research, 121 (8). pp. 7895-7899. ISSN 0148-0227 doi: 10.1002/2016JA022618

Abstract/Summary

Wave-particle interactions play a crucial role in energetic particle dynamics in the Earth's radiation belts. However the relative importance of different wave-modes in these dynamics is poorly understood. Typically this is assessed during geomagnetic storms using statistically averaged empirical wave models as a function of geomagnetic activity in advanced radiation belt simulations. However statistical averages poorly characterise extreme events such as geomagnetic storms in that storm-time ULF wave power is typically larger than that derived over a solar cycle and Kp is a poor proxy for storm-time wave power.