Articles | Volume 31, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-31-599-2013
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-31-599-2013
Regular paper
 | 
05 Apr 2013
Regular paper |  | 05 Apr 2013

Parametric validations of analytical lifetime estimates for radiation belt electron diffusion by whistler waves

A. V. Artemyev, D. Mourenas, O. V. Agapitov, and V. V. Krasnoselskikh

Abstract. The lifetimes of electrons trapped in Earth's radiation belts can be calculated from quasi-linear pitch-angle diffusion by whistler-mode waves, provided that their frequency spectrum is broad enough and/or their average amplitude is not too large. Extensive comparisons between improved analytical lifetime estimates and full numerical calculations have been performed in a broad parameter range representative of a large part of the magnetosphere from L ~ 2 to 6. The effects of observed very oblique whistler waves are taken into account in both numerical and analytical calculations. Analytical lifetimes (and pitch-angle diffusion coefficients) are found to be in good agreement with full numerical calculations based on CRRES and Cluster hiss and lightning-generated wave measurements inside the plasmasphere and Cluster lower-band chorus waves measurements in the outer belt for electron energies ranging from 100 keV to 5 MeV. Comparisons with lifetimes recently obtained from electron flux measurements on SAMPEX, SCATHA, SAC-C and DEMETER also show reasonable agreement.

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