Comparison of radiation belt electron fluxes simultaneously measured with PROBA-V/EPT and RBSP/MagEIS instruments

Abstract

Relativistic radiation belt electron observations from the Energetic Particle Telescope (EPT) on board the PROBA-V (Project for On-Board Autonomy and Vegetation) satellite are compared to those performed by the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) on board the Van Allen Probes formerly known as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP). Despite their very different orbits, both instruments are able to measure fluxes of electrons trapped on a given magnetic shell. In the outer belt, the comparison of high- and low-altitude fluxes is performed during the first 3 months of 2014, featuring the most intense storms of the year. In the inner belt, measurements from the two instruments are compared only at conjunction, when the satellites are physically close to each other. Due to the low number of conjunctions, the whole period of mutual operation of both instruments is used (i.e., May 2013–October 2019). The comparisons show that flux variations appear simultaneously on both spacecraft, but the fluxes observed by the EPT are almost always lower than for MagEIS, as expected from their different orbits. In addition, this difference in flux intensity increases with electron energy. During geomagnetic storms, it is also shown that dropout events (i.e., sudden depletion of electrons) in the outer belt are more pronounced at low altitudes than near the geomagnetic Equator. The effect of the equatorial pitch angle value of electrons is investigated in the outer belt. Despite the difference in flux intensity observed by the two instruments, especially at high energies, a linear relationship with a linear correlation higher than 0.7 was found. The correlation is at its maximum when low-pitch-angle electrons near the Equator are considered.