A background correction algorithm for Van Allen Probes MagEIS electron flux measurements

作者：Claudepierre S G^*; O'Brien T P; Blake J B; Fennell J F; Roeder J L; Clemmons J H; Looper M D; Mazur J E; Mulligan T M; Spence H E; Reeves G D; Friedel R H W; Henderson M G; Larsen B A

来源：JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS, 2015, 120(7): 5703-5727.

DOI：10.1002/2015JA021171

• radiation belt
• inner radiation belt
• background contamination
• spacecraft engineering
• outer radiation belt
• particle measurements

We describe an automated computer algorithm designed to remove background contamination from the Van Allen Probes Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) electron flux measurements. We provide a detailed description of the algorithm with illustrative examples from on-orbit data. We find two primary sources of background contamination in the MagEIS electron data: inner zone protons and bremsstrahlung X-rays generated by energetic electrons interacting with the spacecraft material. Bremsstrahlung X-rays primarily produce contamination in the lower energy MagEIS electron channels (approximate to 30-500keV) and in regions of geospace where multi-MeV electrons are present. Inner zone protons produce contamination in all MagEIS energy channels at roughly L < 2.5. The background-corrected MagEIS electron data produce a more accurate measurement of the electron radiation belts, as most earlier measurements suffer from unquantifiable and uncorrectable contamination in this harsh region of the near-Earth space environment. These background-corrected data will also be useful for spacecraft engineering purposes, providing ground truth for the near-Earth electron environment and informing the next generation of spacecraft design models (e.g., AE9).

• 出版日期2015-7
• 单位Los Alamos