Origin of electron acceleration in the radiation belts of Earth, Jupiter and Saturn
Lead Research Organisation:
British Antarctic Survey
Department Name: Science Programmes
Abstract
Electron acceleration inside planetary and astrophysical magnetic fields is a major unresolved scientific question. At the Earth, intense electromagnetic waves at frequencies of a few kiloHertz are very effective in accelerating electrons up to relativistic energies via resonant wave-particle interactions. These acceleration mechanisms have only recently been recognised as major processes for forming the Earth's outer Van Allen radiation belt and have spurred new satellite missions such as NASA's Radiation Belt Storms Probes (RBSP), and proposed missions by Canada (ORBITALS) and Japan (ERG) to test these ideas. Intense electromagnetic waves are also observed inside the magnetic fields of Jupiter and Saturn and are strong enough to cause electron acceleration on a timescale comparable to that for transport. This suggests that resonant electron acceleration could be important for all planetary radiation belts. The aim of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that resonant wave-particle interactions are a major electron acceleration process at Earth, Jupiter and Saturn, and play a major role in the formation of radiation belts at these planets. The research will leave a legacy of understanding that will last long after the completion of the project, develop computer models that will be of direct use to the space insurance, satellite construction, and satellite service industries, and provide training for a young scientist.
| Description | We have found that special types of radio waves can accelerate electrons to very high energies inside the magnetic field at Jupiter, and help form Jupiter's radiation belt. This is a missing link in the formation of Jupiter's intense radiation belts. |
| Exploitation Route | Taken forward in another STFC grant. Also the work is being taken forward by our US collaborators in their new NASA grant. |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Education,Other |
| Description | They have been referenced in other research papers. Also the results have been used in the general media, by a personal appearances on BBC TV and BBC Radio. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Education,Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Title | BAS Radiation Belt Model |
| Description | The BAS radiation belt model is designed to simulate the variability of the Earth's radiation belt. It is a 3d model and is the equivalent to a global circulation model in atmopsheric physics - but applied to space. It is used as a basic research tool to understand the physical processes governing the acceleration, transport and loss of electrons in the radiation belts. It has also been applied to Jupiter and Saturn. There is a verion of the code that is used to predict the radiation belts for space weather applications. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2014 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The model has been used to show how plasma waves play a major role in the formation of the Earth's radiation belts. |
| URL | https://www.bas.ac.uk/science/research-models/bas-radiation-belt-model-bas-rbm/ |
| Title | BAS Radiation belt model for Jupiter |
| Description | Global physics based model of the radiation belts at Jupiter |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | 4 research papers. |
| Title | HOTRAY |
| Description | HOTRAY is a computer program that can trace the path of any type of wave through a hot magnetised plasma. It has been used successfully in the Earth's ionosphere, magnetosphere, Jupiter, Saturn, the solar wind and in lab plasmas, |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | There are over 100 peer-reviewed research publications using HOTRAY, including collaborations with USA, Japan, and Europe. |
| URL | https://www.bas.ac.uk/science/research-models/hotray-ray-tracing-model/ |
| Title | PADIE code |
| Description | The PADIE code is designed to compute the pitch angle and energy diffusion co-efficients due to the interaction between plasma waves and high energy charged particles in space - in particualr the radiation belts of Earth, Jupiter and Saturn. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | It has been used in many peer reviewed research papers to show how different types of plasma waves can cause acceleration and loss of high energy electrons and protons in space. |
| URL | https://www.bas.ac.uk/science/research-models/padie-pitch-angle-diffusion-of-ions-and-electrons/ |
| Description | Dr J D Menietti |
| Organisation | University of Iowa |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I lead the research project |
| Collaborator Contribution | Analysis of data from the Galileo probae at Jupiter and Cassini spacecraft at Saturn |
| Impact | see our research papers |
| Description | Yuri Shprits |
| Organisation | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Scientific input to research papers. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Scientific input to research papers. |
| Impact | Shprits, Y. Y., J. D. Menietti, X. Gu, K. C. Kim, and R. B. Horne (2012), Gyro-resonant interactions between the radiation belt electrons and whistler mode chorus waves in the radiation environments of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, a comparative study, J. Geophys. Res., 117, A11216, doi: 10.1029/2012JA018031. Menietti, J. D., Y. Y. Shprits, R. B. Horne, E. Woodfield, G. B. Hospodarsky, and D. A. Gurnett (2012), Chorus, ECH, and Z-mode emissions observed at Jupiter 2 and Saturn and possible electron acceleration, J. Geophys. Res., 117, A12214, doi: 12210.11029/12012JA018187. Woodfield, E. E., R. B. Horne, S.A. Glauert, J. D. Menietti, and Y. Y. Shprits (2013), Electron acceleration at Jupiter: greater input from cyclotron-resonant interaction with whistler-mode chorus waves, Ann Geophys., 31, 1619-1630, doi:10.5194/angeo-31-1619-2013. not multi-disciplinary |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | 6th Alfven Conference, UCL |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented a poster of my work at the 6th Alfven Conference on the Plasma Interactions with Solar System Objects at UCL in London, UK in 2014. This was an international workshop and my poster sparked very useful discussions, particularly with some of my colleagues from the USA |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | AGU Talk 2012 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I gave a talk at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco, USA to around 70 of my international colleagues including students which sparked interesting discussion from the audience both in the questions and following on afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Autumn MIST report 2012 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Co-authored meeting report of the Autumn MIST meeting in 2012. (November 2012, Burlington House, London, www.mist.ac.uk). Published in 2013. Fear, R. and Woodfield, E. E., Autumn MIST 2012, Astronomy & Geophysics 2013 54: 2.21-2.24 (published April 2013) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013 |
| Description | Autumn MIST report 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Wrote a meeting report for the MIST (Magnetosphere Ionosphere Solar Terrestrial) community meeting which took place in November 2013. The meeting report was published in the Astronomy and Geophysics magazine (from the Royal Astronomical Society) which is available worldwide. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://astrogeo.oxfordjournals.org/content/55/2/2.22.abstract |
| Description | EGU 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I gave a talk at the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, Austria to an audience of about 80 on my international colleagues. The talk was well received and sparked good discussions following on from it. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | EGU 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented a poster at the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, Austria. I spoke to several of my international colleagues at my poster and many more will have seen it during the day. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Hosted Work Experience Student (2012) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 1 A -Level student spent 1 week working with me. We did multiple activities including learning to programme in a Linux environment, visits to instruments on site, talking to many different scientists. As a result of the week, the student produced a computer routine to produce a movie of the data from our model. The student wrote a computer programme that we used in our research. She really enjoyed her week with us and went away with a very positive attitude towards science and our research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Hot Spring MIST 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I gave a talk to the national MIST meeting (Magnetosphere Ionosphere Solar Terrestrial) to an audience of my scientific peers and students. The talk was well received and prompted discussion with my colleagues from other institutions on how my work would impact upon theirs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | MOP talk 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented my work on Jupiter at the biennial meeting of the Magnetospheres of the Outer Planets meeting in Athens, Greece to an audience of the international leaders in the field. My talk was very well received and I was later invited to speak at the next meeting in 2015 on radiation belts at the planets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | NAM 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented my work on Jupiter at the National Astronomy Meeting in Portsmouth to an audience of about 40 of my scientific peers and students. The talk was well received with several questions sparking curious interest about how my work could be applied in very different situations (e.g. brown dwarfs) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Presentation at the EGU meeting, Vienna |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Questions after the talk. Other scientists started to change their ideas about how radiation belts at Jupiter are formed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Presentation at the URSI General Assembly, Beijing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Questions and discussion Scientists from the Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University, USA, came and asked us for advice on selecting the uper energy levels for the new particle detector to be flown on the ESA JUICE mission to Jupiter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | RAS "G" Meeting poster |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation at meeting on "M-I coupling and auroral emissions at planets in our solar system and beyond" at the Royal Astronomical Society in London. Audience of scientific peers including postgraduate students of approximately 60 people. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Radio Interview for BBC local radio |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I did a media interview for the Paul Hudson Weather Show which is broadcast on BBC Radios York, Leeds, Sheffield, Humberside and Lincolnshire. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p016jv8d |
| Description | Star wars |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Cambridge News published an article following a press release. Some members of the public said they saw the article in the newspaper and were very interested. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Stargazing live, back to Earth |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Appeared on the BBC2 programme Stargazing live, Back to Earth. I sat next to Brian Cox and Dara O'Brien on panel discussion. This was broadcast live. Radio Cambridgeshire asked for a radio interview the following day. I received lots of positive comments from people who saw the programme from a wide variety of backgrounds unrelated to science. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | URSI 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | My colleague and co-author, Richard Horne, presented my work on my behalf at the URSI meeting in China to an international audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |