Dear Spiral user, We’re pleased to introduce Helix, https://helix.imperial.ac.uk/ Imperial’s new repository for research datasets. Please use Helix for all future dataset deposits. There is no change to Spiral - continue depositing as usual. For queries, contact the Research Data Management team at rdm-enquiries@imperial.ac.uk. Kind regards, the Spiral Team. The Spiral team
Asymmetry in Uranus' high energy proton radiation belt
File(s)
Author(s)
Acevski, M
Masters, A
Zomerdijk‐Russell, S
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Uranus is one of the least explored planets in our solar system, it exhibits a unique magnetic field structure which was observed by NASA's Voyager 2 mission nearly 50 years ago. Notably, Uranus displays extreme magnetic field asymmetry, a feature exclusive to the icy giants. We use the Boris algorithm to investigate how high energy protons behave within this unusual magnetic field, which is motivated by Voyager 2's observation of lower-than-expected high energy proton radiation belt intensities at Uranus. When considering full drift motions of high energy protons around Uranus, the azimuthal drift velocity can vary by as much as 15% around the planet. This results in areas around Uranus where particles will be more depleted (faster drift) and other regions where there is a surplus of particles (slower drift). This could provide a partial explanation for the “weak” proton radiation belts observed by Voyager 2.
Date Issued
2024-06-28
Date Acceptance
2024-05-24
Citation
Geophysical Research Letters, 2024, 51 (12)
URI
URL
DOI
ISSN
0094-8276
Publisher
Wiley Open Access
Journal / Book Title
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
51
Issue
12
Copyright Statement
© 2024. The Authors. Geophysical
Research Letters published by Wiley
Periodicals LLC on behalf of American
Geophysical Union.
This is an open access article under the
terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits use,
distribution and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024gl108961
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e2024GL108961
Date Publish Online
2024-06-14