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Computational Model of D-Region Ion Production Caused by Energetic Electron Precipitations Based on General Monte Carlo Transport Calculations
  • Alexei Kouznetsov,
  • Christopher Cully
Alexei Kouznetsov

Corresponding Author:akouznet@ucalgary.ca

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Christopher Cully
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Abstract

During enhanced magnetic activities, large ejections of energetic electrons from radiation belts are deposited in the upper polar atmosphere where they play important roles in its physical and chemical processes, including VLF signals subionospheric propagation. Electron deposition can affect D-Region ionization, which are estimated based on ionization rates derived from energy depositions. We present a model of D-region ion production caused by an arbitrary (in energy and pitch angle) distribution of fast (10 keV - 1 MeV) electrons. The model relies on a set of pre-calculated results obtained using a general Monte Carlo approach with the latest version of the MCNP6 (Monte Carlo N-Particle) code for the explicit electron tracking in magnetic fields. By expressing those results using the ionization yield functions, the pre-calculated results are extended to cover arbitrary magnetic field inclinations and atmospheric density profiles, allowing ionization rate altitude profile computations in the range of 20 and 200 km at any geographic point of interest and date/time by adopting results from an external atmospheric density model (e.g. NRLMSISE-00). The pre-calculated MCNP6 results are stored in a CDF (Common Data Format) file, and IDL routines library is written to provide an end-user interface to the model.