Investigating Similarities and Differences between Radial Diffusion Models within the Van Allen Radiation Belts During Geomagnetic Storms

As we advance further into the space age and launch more and more spacecraft out of Earth's atmosphere there are critical variables that we must take into account to ensure safety of said spacecraft. In particular, it is now crucial to analyze and assess our space environment, including the Van Allen radiation belts. The study of these belts has spanned over decades now and so has analyzing a crucial process known as radial diffusion. This process is very difficult to quantify because it cannot be directly measured and different models provide different RDC (radial diffusion coefficient) values. This study tries to quantify the differences and similarities within two RDC models during geomagnetic storm times: Lejosne ( 2020) and Brautigam & Albert (2000) . The first model is a time series of electromagnetic radial diffusion coefficients for the years 19952019 (Lejosne) and the second is an established empirical law that has tried to quantify the RDC using Kp geomagnetic activity indices (Brautigam and Albert). We have primarily observed the behavior of electron fluxes within the solar wind data which we see as a variable that affects the RDC. Both models are similar in nature in that they are quantified using the Kp index which helps us reduce major variability within the two models when conducting analysis. We have, as of now, done analysis on 5+ different geo-storms and are beginning to see that different storm phases and intensity of the storm might play a major role in the RDC values. To conclusively say they do play a role, we will have to conduct more analysis on different storms. By pinpointing the times of major differences between models, we can start to determine the geomagnetic conditions during which the radial diffusion framework needs to be reassessed the most.