The Magnetospheric “Zebra Stripes”: A Tracer of Near-Earth Space Dynamics
<p>High-energy resolution measurements of energetic (tens to hundreds of keV) electron fluxes in the Earth&#8217;s inner radiation belt and slot region (below L~ 3) revealed the presence of drift-periodic structures named the &#8220;zebra stripes&#8221;.</p><p>We show that analyzing the characteristics of the zebra stripes provides a new tool to shed light on important, yet mostly uncharted drivers of the Earth&#8217;s inner magnetosphere, namely, (a) radial displacements of geomagnetically trapped particles in the inner belt and slot region, and (b) electric field variations in the subauroral region.</p><p>With the large database of high-quality observations provided by the NASA Van Allen Probes mission, it is for the first time possible to perform long-term statistical analysis of the zebra stripe pattern.</p><p>Because Earth-like zebra stripes were also recently discovered at Saturn, the analysis of the zebra stripes present at Earth could constitute a benchmark to determine the electric fields and associated radiation belt dynamics at other magnetized planets.</p>