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Development of a Method for Recovery of the Energy Spectra of Precipitating Electrons from the Data of Measurements in the Atmosphere

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Abstract

Regular measurements of fluxes of charged particles in the Earth’s atmosphere conducted by the Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI) made it possible to register since 1963 more than 500 cases of precipitation of energetic electrons in the northern polar latitudes. The obtained experimental data represent the world’s only database on the precipitation of electrons registered directly in the Earth’s atmosphere. Primary precipitating electrons are absorbed in the upper layers of the atmosphere. However, the fluxes of secondary photons generated by them can penetrate deep into the atmosphere, sometimes to heights of ~20 km, which are accessible for balloon measurements by the Lebedev Physical Institute. This paper presents a new technique for reconstructing the energy spectrum of precipitating electrons developed on the basis of the Monte Carlo simulation of the processes of electron propagation in the atmosphere. The applicability of the technique to the accumulated experimental data is shown, and new results are presented for individual events recorded in the atmosphere.

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5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the researchers who provide data from the POES satellite on electron fluxes via the Internet (https://satdat.ngdc.noaa.gov/sem/poes/data/).

Funding

This work was carried out under a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant no. 20-55-12020), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant no. SI 1088/7-1). G.A. Bazilevskaya and I.A. Mironova were supported by a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant no. 22-62-00048).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI RAS), Moscow, Russia

    V. S. Makhmutov & G. A. Bazilevskaya

  2. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University), Moscow, Russia

    V. S. Makhmutov

  3. Pushkov Institute of Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Propagation of Radio Waves. Russian Academy of Sciences (IZMIRAN), Moscow, Troitsk, Russia

    E. A. Maurchev

  4. Polar Geophysical Institute, Apatity, (Murmansk region), Russia

    E. A. Maurchev

  5. St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    I. A. Mironova

Authors
  1. V. S. Makhmutov
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  2. E. A. Maurchev
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  3. G. A. Bazilevskaya
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  4. I. A. Mironova
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to V. S. Makhmutov, E. A. Maurchev, G. A. Bazilevskaya or I. A. Mironova.

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Makhmutov, V.S., Maurchev, E.A., Bazilevskaya, G.A. et al. Development of a Method for Recovery of the Energy Spectra of Precipitating Electrons from the Data of Measurements in the Atmosphere. Geomagn. Aeron. 63, 602–607 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793223600479

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