Solar-Cycle Variations of South-Atlantic Anomaly Proton Intensities Measured With The PAMELA Mission

TL;DR

This study analyzes solar-cycle variations in >80 MeV proton fluxes in the South-Atlantic Anomaly using PAMELA data over 8 years, revealing insights into radiation environment changes related to solar activity.

Contribution

It provides new observational constraints on low-altitude high-energy proton populations during different solar cycle phases.

Findings

Proton intensities vary with solar cycle phase.

Solar modulation effects depend on drift shell and pitch angle.

Data constrains models of radiation environment at high energies.

Abstract

We present a study of the solar-cycle variations of >80 MeV proton flux intensities in the lower edge of the inner radiation belt, based on the measurements of the Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics (PAMELA) mission. The analyzed data sample covers an ~8 year interval from 2006 July to 2014 September, thus spanning from the decaying phase of the 23rd solar cycle to the maximum of the 24th cycle. We explored the intensity temporal variations as a function of drift shell and proton energy, also providing an explicit investigation of the solar-modulation effects at different equatorial pitch angles. PAMELA observations offer new important constraints for the modeling of low-altitude particle radiation environment at the highest trapping energies.