Notes from Radiation Belts, Sankt-Petersburg (RBSPb) Workshop
4—6 August 2008, Grand Hotel Emerald
J. Goldstein
Roeder (for Fennell): Electron decay rates in the inner magnetosphere. May
98 storm: dual decay rates, multiple decay rates; energy-dependent, and Ldependent. Yuri mentions normal mode analysis:
f ˆ
Lf
t
Sandel [2005].) The dawnside plasmpause L value is often less than
Carpenter and Anderson. E.g., L ~2 in EUV, but L = 3.25 in CA92.
. Action:
Get Jim's data by year and see how rates depend on inside/outside the
plasmapause.

Millan: Technique for using electron contamination of POES proton
detectors as a de facto electron detector. I didn't write down much about the
technique itself.
General Discussion: Can one reasonably design an instrument to cover
phase space? There is currently a disconnect between theorists and
observationalists. It seems that we desperately need to improve the
communication between theorists and experimentalists. Perhaps we can
promote a future meeting, or maybe just a session at a future RBSPb, to
promote this communication? Theorists in principle can help improve
instrument design (``What do theorists want from data??''). Experimentalists
can help teach theorists how to use the data properly. For example, better
documentation of the "secrets" to analyzing particular data sets, as well as the
pitfalls/dangers.
Spasojevic: EMIC waves, global distribution, chorus at low L. Subauroral
proton arcs. RC 20-30 keV protons. EMIC seen on the ground & in space,
inside plumes [Spasojevic et al., 2005]. Is this a proxy for EMIC occurrence?
Goldstein suggests it is actually a map of occurrence, amplitude, proton
pressure, & resonance condition, convolved together. (Need to look at the
math/theory for this, to check accuracy of this statement.)
General Discussion: Zhang GUVI, DMSP, subauroral proton spots.
Temporal evolution of detached arcs: 16 arc events. Superposed epoch
analysis. Precipitation during southward IMF, detached arc when the aurora
moves poleward after northward Bz turning. Horne says strong diffusion has
no current experimental proof, and that the timescale for diffusion is
comparable to the bounce time. Note citation to Horne and Thorne
"Relativistic Electron Scattering By Waves". Horne then gives tutorial of
dispersion diagram and how it relates to the resonance condition. Very cool;
a highlight of the meeting.
Spasojevic (continued): Maria notes the plasmapause is often "flattened"
post-dawn. (Goldstein agrees, and this is something noted in Goldstein and
Roeder: SCATHA satellite data. Orbit 7.8 x 5.3 RE, Gussenhoven
spacecraft charging. Conjunctions with LANL? 1 min spacecraft spin
period. (~16 mHz). Overlap with AMPTE 1984 - ?
Particle 1 sec.
Plasma.
B-field
Pc5-Pc2 waves
Electric field, spacecraft potential
Shprits: Chorus structure important for acceleration. Katoh and Omura,
Nunn, 1970s, Matsumoto. Chorus: strong wave field, gradient in
background field, B-field gradient is minimum, phase space island.
Action List;
Jim/Joe:
Yuri:
Yoshi:
Sasha:
Robyn:
Jerry:
Maria:
SAMPEX/HEO, SCATHA
normal mode analysis, data assimilation using
SCATHA, AMPTE
will provide Akebono data
L* calculation, AMPTE data
POES electron data
plasmapause data, CRRES high energy electron
data (I promise to bug the current curator of this
data (Lockheed?)
proton auroral arcs (for EMIC), chorus and hiss
ground VLF receiver data.
Final Session Discussion:
What worked? What didn't work?
This was the first time, but we'd like to do it again. Comments from
participants (in no particular order or organization):
• Learned a lot! This could be the "learning meeting".
• We shouldn't go for event-driven collaborations. We have relevant
action items and people can do what they want.
• Next time we can have a tutorial on a particular paper (or papers).
We can nominate people for this job. Review of Hamiltonian?
• Classic quasilinear papers. Kennel & Petschek: Bortnik? Albert?
• Thrilled people came. Discussions were wonderful (mostly). We
learned a lot—this is rare for a meeting. The atmosphere of
questioning was great.
• some things worked, some didn't... Experimentation.
• Future: we should have many more meetings like this one.
• PUT UP a WEB PAGE.
• Keep meeting small, limit length of time. (Short or long? 3 tiers?)
Stronger role of discussion leader.
• Next time, organizers: Come better prepared in advance, with more
pre-meeting organization.
• Set ground rules beforehand and announce (in emails, etc.):
No side conversations.
Limited time for each talk.
No more than 20 people at meeting.
# days  # people?