A strange occurrence in the earth’s magnetosphere

• The magnetosphere is the region of space surrounding Earth .

• The magnetosphere is formed by the interaction of the solar wind with Earth’s magnetic field.

• This region, known as the magnetosphere, causes the particles to travel around the planet rather than bombarding the atmosphere or surface of a planet.

Magnetosphere

• When Solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, plasma waves with ultra-low frequency (ULF) range, < 1 Hz, are produced.

• These waves are then rescaled in time and converted into sound waves so we can study them with the human auditory system.

• 20Hz – 20 kHz

• taudio = treal/(Fs x dt)

Sonification

• We chose to look at the data from the most recent year which is 2015

• Spacecraft g15 (GOES)

• g15_2015_Bpol_10nT_diff

• Why we chose it?

What we did?

Freq

uen

cy o

f d

ays

RMS amplitude (x10nT)

Here is our event !!!

Radiation Belts

• A radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind.

• The particles are then captured and held around the planet by the planet’s magnetic field.

• Ordinarily, the inner belt is composed of high-energy protons and low-energy electrons.

• However, during our event, NASA and

it’s Van Allen Probes found that electrons

in the inner shell were of high energy.

Artist concept of accelerated electrons circulating in Earth's Van Allen radiation belts.Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center; Tom Bridgman, animator

• During research we discovered that NASA found a geomagnetic storm on 17th March 2015.

• The March 2015 storm was initiated by an interplanetary shock hurtling toward Earth – a giant shockwave in space set off by a CME.

• Changing conditions in near-Earth space can energize electrons in these ever-changing regions.

• “The shock injected – meaning it pushed –electrons from outer regions of the magnetosphere deep inside the belt, and in that process, the electrons gained energy,” said Shri Kanekal, the deputy mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes .

What happened on 17th March?

• The wave activity that we observed on the 17th of March 2015 was caused by a geomagnetic storm in the magnetosphere.

• Our anomalous wave event was caused by a geomagnetic storm which was also recorded by NASA.

NASA – 17th March 2015

• Radiation hazards to humans

• Geomagnetically induced current

• Satellite hardware damage

• Disruption of electrical systems

• Degrade the precision in GPS measurement.

• “We study radiation belts because they pose a hazard to spacecraft and astronauts,” said David Sibeck.

Consequences of energised electrons

• As scientists gather data from different events, they can compare and contrast them, ultimately helping to create robust models of the little-understood processes occurring in these giant radiation belts.

• Scientists wish to know just which orbits could be jeopardized in different situations.

• Scientists don’t yet know whether energizationevents driven by interplanetary shocks are common.

Further Research

Further Research

0.1 MeV

1.0 MeV

0.8 MeV

As the energy increases, the electrons jump to outer radiation belt.