Global Occurrences of Auroral Kilometric Radiation Related to Suprathermal Electrons in Radiation Belts

Auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) can potentially produce serious damage to space-borne systems by accelerating trapped radiation belt electrons to relativistic energies. Here we examine the global occurrences of AKR emissions in radiation belts based on Van Allen Probes observations from 1 October 2012 to 31 December 2016. The statistical results (1,848 events in total) show that AKR covers a broad region of L = 3-6.5 and 00-24 magnetic local time (MLT), with a higher occurrence on the nightside (20-24 MLT and 00-04 MLT) within L = 5-6.5. All the AKR events are observed to be accompanied with suprathermal (similar to 1 keV) electron flux enhancements. During active geomagnetic periods, both AKR occurrences and electron injections tend to be more distinct, and AKR emission extends to the dayside. The current study shows that AKR emissions from the remote sources are closely associated with electron injections.