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Fig. 4 | Progress in Earth and Planetary Science

Fig. 4

From: Role Of the Sun and the Middle atmosphere/thermosphere/ionosphere In Climate (ROSMIC): a retrospective and prospective view

Fig. 4

Sources of EPP. The so-called medium energy electrons (MEE, >10 keV to several MeV) originate in the Earth’s outer radiation belt, and their fluxes into the atmosphere are understood to be controlled by magnetospheric wave-particle interactions. Auroral electrons (<10 keV) originate primarily from the plasma sheet which is located in the tail/night side of the magnetosphere, while solar protons (not included in the top image) are injected as a result of solar storms. The map in the bottom panel illustrates that the different types of particles can influence slightly different geographic areas when they enter the atmosphere (note that locations are only indicative and are influenced by the particle energies). While the Northern Hemisphere is shown here, precipitation also occurs in the Southern Hemisphere. For detailed information, see Matthes et al. (2017)

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