Dartmouth Events

Physics & Astronomy - Senior Honor Thesis-Claire Gasque, Dartmouth College

Title: "Statistically Determining the Spatial Extent of Relativistic Electron Precipitation Events Using Polar-Orbiting Satellite Data"

Thursday, May 23, 2019
3:00pm – 4:00pm
Wilder 104
Intended Audience(s): Public
Categories: Lectures & Seminars

Abstract: Relativistic electron precipitation (REP) from the outer radiation belt into the atmosphere both affects climate, producing ozone-destroying compounds, and poses risks for satellite instrumentation. Characterizing the spatial extent of REP events is important for understanding the dynamics of the outer radiation belt, allowing us to quantify the relative role of atmospheric and magnetopause loss. Following Shekhar et al. (2017), who used 16 second resolution data from particle detectors onboard NOAA's Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and the ESA's Meterological Operational (MetOp) Satellites, we work to more precisely determine the spatial extent of REP events using higher resolution (2 second) data. We use selection criteria to algorithmically search through six years of satellite data (from 2013 - 2018), identifying REP events as well as their start and end times and locations. We find that the majority of events are highly localized and, unlike Shekhar et al. (2017), we do not observe a population of broad events around midnight magnetic local time. We will discuss the possible reasons for this discrepancy, as well as suggest methods for using machine learning techniques to mine this data set for additional insights about REP events in the future.

For more information, contact:
Tressena Manning
6036462854

Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.