An investigation of VLF transmitter wave power in the inner radiation belt and slot region
RadiationBelt
Nigel
Meredith
Date Submitted
2019-03-06 09:23:20
British Antarctic Survey
N. P. Meredith (British Antarctic Survey), R. B. Horne (British Antarctic Survey), M. A. Clilverd (British Antarctic Survey), J. P. J. Ross (British Antarctic Survey)
Signals from manmade VLF transmitters, used for communications with submarines, can leak into space and contribute to the dynamics of energetic electrons in the inner radiation belt and slot region. In this study we use ~5 years of plasma wave data from the Van Allen Probe A satellite to construct new models of the observed wave power from VLF transmitters both as a function of L* and MLT and geographic location. Average power peaks primarily on the nightside of the Earth for the VLF transmitters at low geographic latitudes. At higher latitudes the peak average power extends further in MLT due to more extensive periods of night-time in the winter months. Night-time power is typically orders of magnitude more than that observed near noon, implying that loss rates from a given VLF transmitter will also maximise in this region. The observed power from any given VLF transmitter is tightly confined in longitude, with the nightside peak power typically falling by a factor of 10 within 10 degrees longitude of the location of the peak signal. We show that the total average wave power from all VLF transmitters lies in the range 3-9 pT^2 in the region 1.3 L* 3.0, with approximately 50% of this power emanating from three VLF transmitters, NWC, NAA and DHO38.
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