Modeling the energetic electron fluxes in the inner radiation belt based on a drift-source model

Abstract

The Macau Science Satellite-1 (MSS-1), designed by the Macao University of Science and Technology and the National Space Science Center (NSSC) of China, is equipped to detect the fine structure of the magnetic field over the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) region, monitoring geomagnetic field variations, and obtaining the energetic electron spectrum distributions in the Earth’s inner radiation belt. In this study, we simulate the distributions of trapped, quasi-trapped, and untrapped electrons along the orbit of MSS-1 based on a drift-source model. The simulation results show that the particle detector with 90° looking direction can observe trapped electrons in the SAA region, untrapped electrons in the regions conjugated with the SAA region at the north hemisphere, and quasi-trapped electrons in all other regions. In contrast, the detectors with <60° looking directions can measure only untrapped electrons. Generally, quasi-trapped electron fluxes accumulate along the drift trajectory and are due primarily to CRAND, until reaching the SAA region where quasi-trapped electrons are all lost into the atmosphere.