Atmospheric Loss of Energetic Electrons and Protons from the Radiation Belts After the Exceptional Injection of the 11 May 2024 Superstorm Leading to Four Electron Belts

The exceptionally strong geomagnetic storm of 10–11 May 2024 injected new energetic protons and electrons into the terrestrial radiation belts, creating extraordinary conditions to study the loss mechanisms scattering these particles into the atmosphere after the storm. For the first time, four electron belts were observed during several weeks. We show that this structure was due to electron loss, highly dependent on specific positions. Using the proton and electron fluxes measured by the Energetic Particle Telescope, EPT, on board PROBA-V, we determine the lifetimes of these populations depending on their energy ranges and positions. We show that the lifetimes are much longer for protons than for electrons, which enables us to determine their time variations independently. For electrons, the wave–particle loss mechanisms depend on the background ionosphere–plasmasphere density. The lifetimes determined after the May 2024 and 10 October 2024 big events are compared with average ones to understand their unusual specificity for the formation of four and three belts, respectively. For the injected protons of 9.5 to 13 MeV, the lifetime is minimum at L~1.9, where the fluxes are maximum, showing a lifetime depending on the flux intensity. Loss is due to pitch angle diffusion and collisions with electrons and nuclei in the ambient plasma and neutral atmosphere. At the outer edge of the proton belt, the flux is depleted at all energies after the geomagnetic perturbation, and we determine that the progressive time of refilling after the storm generally reaches more than 40 days. There is an excellent discrimination between the different populations of energetic electrons (0.5–8 MeV) and the injected protons (9.5–13 MeV) that are still observed several months after the event. Such results contribute to advancing understanding of the interactions between the terrestrial atmosphere and space radiation.