Electron Fluxes at Geostationary Orbit From GOES MAGED Data

Abstract

AbstractElectron behavior in energies below 200 keV at geostationary orbit has significance for satellite operations due to charging effects on spacecraft. Five years of keV energy electron measurements by the geostationary GOES‐13 satellite's MAGnetospheric Electron Detector (MAGED) instrument has been analyzed. A method for determining flight direction integrated fluxes is presented. The electron fluxes at the geostationary orbit are shown to have significant dependence on solar wind speed and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) BZ: increased solar wind speed correlates with higher electron fluxes with all magnetic local times while negative IMF BZ increases electron fluxes in the 0 to 12 magnetic local time sector. A predictive empirical model for electron fluxes in the geostationary orbit for energies 40, 75, and 150 keV was constructed and is presented here. The empirical model is dependent on three parameters: magnetic local time, solar wind speed, and IMF BZ.