Ring current and outer radiation belt
Ring current and outer radiation belt

High energy ions and electrons can be trapped by the Earth's magnetic field in doughnut shaped rings around the Earth known as the Van Allen radiation belts. The outer radiation belt coincides with the geostationary orbit of many communications satellites, which can be damaged by the trapped high energy particles. The trapped energetic particles bounce up and down across the equator along magnetic field lines at the same time as they drift around the earth. The ions drift to the west and the electrons drift to the east and this gives rise to an electrical "ring current". Electromagnetic waves cause some of the trapped particles to become untrapped and precipitate down the magnetic field lines into the ionosphere around the magnetic poles.

Investigators
Instruments
AMPTE ATS-6 CRRES
Interball Polar SAMPEX
GOES ISEE 1 and 2 LANL

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