Van Allen Radiation Belt
Copyright Ingo Michaelis. Background image courtesy of European Space Agency/NASA
This image illustrates the structure of the ultra-relativistic Van Allen Radiation Belt after a storm. Van Allen Probes satellite data shows the evolution of the radial profile of fluxes and angular distribution of particles. Sudden change of the distributions of particles provides a tell-tale signature of the precipitation into the atmosphere due to scattering by plasma waves depicted with the magenta line.