Investigation of the Energy Spectrum of Electron Microbursts Observed by FIREBIRD-II

Abstract:

This study investigates the energy spectrum of electron microbursts observed by the FIREBIRD-II CubeSats. FIREBIRD-II is a pair of CubeSats launched in January 2015 focused on the study of electron microbursts in low Earth orbit. High resolution electron data from FIREBIRD consists of 5 differential energy channels between 200 keV and 1 MeV and a >1 MeV integral channel. This covers an energy range that has not been well studied from low Earth orbit with a good energy resolution. For this study, microbursts are identified in the region of the North Atlantic where FIREBIRD only observes electrons in the bounce loss cone. The electron flux and energy spectrum of each microburst is calculated using a FIREBIRD mass model constructed in GEANT4. These energy spectra are then compared to the equatorial electron spectra measured by the Van Allen Probes. This study aims to improve our understanding of the scattering mechanism behind electron microbursts by investigating their spectral properties and their relationship to the equatorial electron population under different geomagnetic conditions.