Detection of the third innermost radiation belt on LEO CORONAS-Photon satellite around 2009 solar minimum

TL;DR

This study identifies a new, persistent electron belt at L=1.6 beneath the Van Allen belts during the 2009 solar minimum, revealing its unique spectral and spatial characteristics through satellite data analysis.

Contribution

It reports the discovery of a third innermost radiation belt at L=1.6, characterized by a steeper energy spectrum and anisotropic distribution, based on combined data from CORONAS-Photon satellite instruments.

Findings

Detected a persistent electron belt at L=1.6 beneath the inner Van Allen belt.

Found the new belt has a steeper energy spectrum with electrons >400 keV almost absent outside SAA.

Observed low-energy electrons at all latitudes during a weak geomagnetic storm.

Abstract

We analyze variations of high-energy charged particle populations filling various magnetospheric regions under, inside, and outside of the Van Allen inner and outer electron radiation belts in May 2009. The study is based on the experimental data obtained from the STEP-F and the SphinX instruments placed close to each other aboard the low-Earth circular orbit CORONAS-Photon satellite. Data analysis of particle fluencies collected from the highly sensitive STEP-F device indicates the presence of a persistent electron belt at L = 1.6, i.e., beneath the well-known Van Allen electron inner radiation belt of the Earth's magnetosphere. The electron energy spectrum in this 'new' belt is much steeper than that of the inner belt so that the electrons with energies Ee > 400 keV were almost not recorded on L = 1.6 outside the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA). We introduce the concept of effective lowest threshold energies for X-ray detectors used in the solar soft X-ray spectrophotometer SphinX and define their values for two regions: the SAA and the Van Allen outer belt. Different values of lowest threshold energies are directly associated with different slopes of particle energy spectra. Cross-analyses of data obtained from the STEP-F and SphinX instruments initially built for various purposes made it possible to detect the highly anisotropic character of the spatial electron distribution in radiation belts in both Southern and northern hemispheres. We detected also the presence of low-energy electrons at all latitudes during the main phase of a weak geomagnetic storm.