Researchers have known the Earth has two doughnut-shaped rings of highly-charged particles since 1952, but recently they noticed a third belt that popped up out of nowhere.
The Van Allen radiation belts consist of "an inner ring of high-energy electrons and energetic positive ions and an outer ring of high-energy electrons," a UCLA press release reported. In February, researchers noticed an elusive third belt that formed in between the inner and outer rings and lasted for a month.
The team noticed the particles, called ultra-relativistic electrons. In this briefly-appearing belt behaved quite differently from what was usually seen in the Van Allen belts.
"In the past, scientists thought that all the electrons in the radiation belts around the Earth obeyed the same physics," Yuri Shprits, a research geophysicist with the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Sciences, said. "We are finding now that radiation belts consist of different populations that are driven by very different physical processes."
The Van Allen belts can be hazardous to important electronics such as satellites and spaceships. These ultra-relativistic particles are especially dangerous and can penetrate the protective layer on almost any spacecraft.
"Their velocity is very close to the speed of light, and the energy of their motion is several times larger than the energy contained in their mass when they are at rest," Adam Kellerman, a staff research associate in Shprits' group, said. "The distinction between the behavior of the ultra-relativistic electrons and those at lower energies was key to this study."
The team believes the mysterious ring was created when plasma waves "whipped out ultra-relativistic electrons in the outer belt almost down to the inner edge of the outer belt." The remnants were what formed the third ring. After the storm a cold plasma bubble formed to preserve the newly-formed belt.
"The Van Allen radiation belts "can no longer be considered as one consistent mass of electrons. They behave according to their energies and react in various ways to the disturbances in space," Shprits said.
"This study shows that completely different populations of particles exist in space that change on different timescales, are driven by different physics and show very different spatial structures," he said.
The team used a simulation model to confirm their finding, the models synched up with the previous predictions.
"I believe that, with this study, we have uncovered the tip of the iceberg," Shprits said. "We still need to fully understand how these electrons are accelerated, where they originate and how the dynamics of the belts is different for different storms."
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