Earth's ring current and radiation belt physics

Earth's ring current is a crucial physical element in the control and dynamics of the trapped radiation environment. As examples: The highly asymmetric ring current can severely distort the geomagnetic field of the inner magnetosphere, resulting in severe alterations of radiation belt electron drift trajectories and hence the stability of the configuration of trapped particles; ion acceleration and transport processes can change the ring current composition, resulting in possible changes in the plasma β; a high β ring current can produce plasma instabilities that can accelerate charged particles into the trapped population. This presentation will address contemporary as well as potentially new fundamental ring current physics in Earth's space environment, with emphases on the role of the ring current in radiation belt dynamics. The talk will also present initial results from the RBSPICE ring current instruments flying on the two RBSP spacecraft.