New global loss model of energetic and relativistic electrons based on Van Allen Probes measurements

Abstract The Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS) instrument on the Van Allen Probes provides a vast quantity of fully resolved wave measurements below L = 5.5, a critical region for radiation belt acceleration and loss. EMFISIS data show that plasmaspheric hiss waves can be observed at frequencies as low as 20 Hz and provide three‐component magnetic field measurements that can be directly used for electron scattering calculations. Updated models of hiss properties based on statistical analysis of Van Allen Probes data were recently developed. We use these new models to compute and parameterize the lifetime of electrons as a function of kinetic energy, L shell, Kp index, and magnetic local time. We present a detailed analysis of the electron lifetime sensitivity to the model of the wave intensity and spectral distribution. We also compare the results with previous models of electron loss, which were based on single‐component electric field measurements from the sweep frequency receiver on board the CRRES satellite.