An Updated Geomagnetic Index-Based Model for Determining the Latitudinal Extent of Energetic Electron Precipitation

Energetic Electron Precipitation (EEP) from the Earth's plasma sheet and the radiation belts is an important feature of atmospheric dynamics through their destruction of ozone in the lower thermosphere and mesosphere. Therefore, understanding the magnitude of the atmospheric impact of the Sun-Earth interaction requires a comprehensive understanding of the intensity and location of EEP. This study improves the accuracy of a previous pressure-corrected Dst model that predicts the equatorward extent of >43, >114, and >292 keV EEP using the measurements from the Medium Energy Proton Electron Detector detector of six National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites and EUMETSAT/METOP satellites. The improvement is achieved through multiple linear regression of pressure-corrected Dst and pressure-corrected Ring Current (RC) indices. The RC index mitigates the baseline variation of the Dst index that created an inherent solar cycle bias in the previous model. The new model is then extended to the Southern Hemisphere (SH) after removing the South Atlantic Anomaly longitudes from the data. More than 80% of the residuals lie within +/- 1.8 degrees Corrected Geomagnetic Latitude (CGMLat) in the Northern Hemisphere and within +/- 1.98 degrees CGMLat in the SH. Plain Language Summary This study aims to construct a model that predicts the geographic extent of Energetic Electron Precipitation (EEP) from the Earth's radiation belts using measurements from the Medium Energy Proton Electron Detector detector of six National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites and EUMETSAT/METOP satellites. The study enhances the accuracy of the previous pressure-corrected Dst model. This improvement is implemented using multiple linear regression of pressure-corrected Dst and pressure-corrected Ring Current (RC) indices. Additionally, the study extends the model to the Southern Hemisphere after removing the South Atlantic Anomaly longitudes from the data. The result resolves the solar cycle bias that existed in the previous study.