Radiation Belts & Plasmapause
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- Visualizations by:
- Tom Bridgman
- View full credits
The near-Earth space enviroment is a complex interaction between Earth's magnetic field, cool plasma moving up from Earth's ionosphere, and hotter plasma coming in from the solar wind. This interactions combine to maintain the radiation belts around Earth.
Plasma interactions can generate sharply delineated regions in these belts. In addition to the inner and outer radiation belts, the cooler plasma of the plasmasphere interacts so that it keeps out the higher-energy electrons from outside its boundary (called the plasmapause).
In this visualization, the radiation belts (rainbow-color) and plasmapause (blue-green surface) surround Earth, its structure largely determined by Earth's dipole magnetic field (represented by cyan curved lines). The radiation belt is sliced open, simultaneously revealing representative confined charged particles spiraling around the magnetic field structure. Yellow particles represent negative-charged electrons, blue particles represent positive-charged ions. However, if realistically scaled for particle mass and energies, the spiral motion would not be visible at this distance so particle masses and size scales are adjusted to make them visible.
The inner blue-green plasmapause boundary is then sliced open to reveal more of the inner structure of the radiation belts, including the innermost belt.
For More Information
See NASA.gov
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
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Animator
- Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.) [Lead]
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Scientists
- David G. Sibeck (NASA/GSFC)
- Shrikanth G. Kanekal (NASA/GSFC)
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Producer
- Genna Duberstein (ADNET)
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Project support
- Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
Datasets used in this visualization
Van Allen Probes ECT (Collected with the Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite sensor)
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Related pages
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ID: 12543 Produced Video
The Electron Beltway
Read moreNASA's Van Allen Probes reveal how electrons move through the radiation belts that surround Earth. || Two doughnut-shaped regions of charged particles encircle our planet. These regions, called the Van Allen radiation belts, were discovered more than 50 years ago, but their behavior is still not completely understood. The belts are made of protons and electrons from the solar wind and cosmic rays that are captured by Earth's magnetic field. Some of these particles move very fast, but observations from NASA’s two Van Allen Probes show that the fastest, most energetic electrons in the inner radiation belt aren’t present as much of the time as scientists thought. That means there typically isn’t as much radiation in the inner belt as previously assumed — good news for spacecraft at risk of radiation damage when flying through that region of near-Earth space. The Van Allen Probes, specifically designed to be immune to this type of radiation, plunge through the radiation belts up to six times a day to study the physical processes that add and remove electrons from the region. The Van Allen belts are a crucial part of a larger space weather system that stretches from the Sun to Earth and beyond. Watch the videos to learn more. ||
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ID: 4595 Visualization
Mapping Particle Injections in Earth's Magnetosphere
Read moreA view from above the northern hemisphere of particle injection propagation constructed from their respective satellite detections. Distinct injections, and their detection by satellites, are represented by different colors. || Near-Earth space is not empty. It is filled with energetic charged particles and magnetic fields from the Sun and Earth. Some of these energetic particles make it into Earth's upper atmosphere, where they can create auroras around the north and south magnetic poles. But most of these energetic particles stay trapped by Earth's magnetic field, forming concentric belts encircling the planet, called the Van Allen Radiation Belts (Radiation Belts & Plasmapause). When energetic particles are injected into Earth's radiation belts, perhaps by a reconnection event in Earth's magnetotail, they can become trapped by the geomagnetic field. Consequently, these energetic particles will propagate around Earth as they slowly disperse. If a satellite with particle monitors lies along the particle trajectory, the satellite can detect these particles (Prompt Electron Acceleration in the Radiation Belts). With multiple satellite detections, it is possible to approximately reconstruct the origin and path of the original particle injection. These visualizations illustrate the results of this reconstruction applied to a series of particle injections detected by multiple satellites on April 7, 2016.In this visualization, we distinguish each injection with a different color, and that color is used to flash the satellite detecting that particular injection. The injections drift around Earth by a process called gradient drift (Plasma Zoo: Particle Drift in a Magnetic Gradient). Negative charged particles drift eastward (corresponding to counter-clockwise in the visualization view above the north geographic pole), while positive charged particles drift westward (corresponding to clockwise in the visualization view). ||
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