This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The Van Allen radiation belts are huge, doughnut-shaped regions of highly energetic charged particles trapped by Earth's magnetosphere. These charged particles play a major role in space weather, so studying them is important for predicting and managing risks to satellites, astronauts, power grids and other infrastructure.
Geomagnetic storms and other events can rapidly and dramatically increase or reduce the number of highly energetic electrons trapped in the radiation belts. During a key type of event known as a relativistic microburst, trapped electrons escape from the outer belt into Earth's atmosphere in an intense surge lasting less than 1 second. Microbursts could influence radiation belt hazards and may even alter atmospheric chemical composition.
However, new research by Jorge Romero-Minaya and colleagues challenges the prevailing understanding of what triggers highly energetic electron microbursts. The work is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The study focuses on chorus waves—naturally occurring electromagnetic waves that ripple through the vast mass of charged particles, or plasma, surrounding Earth.
Chorus waves are named for the sounds made by a radio receiver when it detects them. They are known to be able to accelerate trapped electrons to high speeds, and they are thought to be the primary drivers of microbursts. The researchers analyzed statistical associations between chorus waves and relativistic microbursts using data from NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions During Substorms (THEMIS) and Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX) missions.
The data set included chorus waves and microbursts detected by the satellites between June 2010 and November 2012. They discovered that only a very small percentage of the chorus waves occurred in conjunction with relativistic microbursts—far fewer than expected, given the strong links seen in prior studies. The small number of chorus waves associated with relativistic microbursts tended to have larger amplitudes and other distinctive characteristics, suggesting that only a small subset of chorus waves drive microbursts at these high energies.
Future research could explore this possibility and further clarify these surprising results, the researchers say. Jorge Romero‐Minaya et al, Observational Analysis on the Relationship Between Chorus Waves and MeV Microburst Electron Precipitation, Geophysical Research Letters (2026). DOI: 10.1029/2026gl124627 Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters MA in English, copy editor since 2021 with experience in higher education and health content.
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