Using Van Allen Probes Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma‐Relativistic Electron‐Proton Telescope (ECT‐REPT) observations, we performed a statistical study on the effect of geomagnetic storms on relativistic electrons fluxes in the outer radiation belt for 78 storms between September 2012 and June 2016. We found that the probability of enhancement, depletion, and no change in flux values depends strongly on L and energy. Enhancement events are more common for ∼2 MeV electrons at L ∼ 5, and the number of enhancement events decreases with increasing energy at any given L shell. However, considering the percentage of occurrence of each kind of event, enhancements are more probable at higher energies, and the probability of enhancement tends to increases with increasing L shell. Depletion are more probable for 4–5 MeV electrons at the heart of the outer radiation belt, and no‐change events are more frequent at L < 3.5 for E ∼ 3 MeV particles. Moreover, for L > 4.5 the probability of enhancement, depletion, or no‐change response presents little variation for all energies. Because these probabilities remain relatively constant as a function of radial distance in the outer radiation belt, measurements obtained at geosynchronous orbit may be used as a proxy to monitor E≥1.8 MeV electrons in the outer belt.

Observed electron velocity distributions in the Earth's magnetosphere and the solar wind exhibit a variety of nonthermal features which deviate from thermal equilibrium, for example, in the form of temperature anisotropies, suprathermal tail extensions, and field-aligned beams. The state close to thermal equilibrium and its departure from it provides a source for spontaneous emissions of electromagnetic fluctuations, such as the whistler. Here we present a comparative analysis of the electron whistler-cyclotron and firehose fluctuations based upon anisotropic plasma modeled with Maxwellian and Tsallis-kappa-like particle distributions, to explain the correspondence relationship of the magnetic fluctuations as a function of the electron temperature and thermal anisotropy in the solar wind and magnetosphere plasmas. The analysis presented here considers correlation theory of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem and the dispersion relation of transverse fluctuations, with wave vectors parallel to the uniform background magnetic field, in a finite temperature anisotropic thermal bi-Maxwellian and nonthermal Tsallis-kappa-like magnetized electron-proton plasma. Dispersion analysis and stability thresholds are derived for these thermal and nonthermal distributions using plasma and field parameters relevant to the solar wind and magnetosphere environments. Our results indicate that there is an enhancement of the fluctuations level in the case of nonthermal distributions due to the effective higher temperature and the excess of suprathermal particles. These results suggest that a comparison of the electromagnetic fluctuations due to thermal and nonthermal distributions provides a diagnostic signature by which inferences about the nature of the particle velocity distribution function can be ascertained without in situ particle measurements.

We use kappa distributions to model thousands of ion and electron flux spectra along the plasma sheet and analyze the variation of the spectral index κ and the temperature T in this region. We find that κ distributions are ubiquitous and fit well ion and electron flux spectra during quiet times, and during the expansion and recovery phases of substorms. Near Earth, and up to ∼12 RE, the κ indices are different than the rest of the plasma sheet, both for ions (κi) and electrons (κe). There is a significant dawn‐dusk asymmetry in κi toward the tail, which is enhanced during substorms. The ions also exhibit a permanent temperature asymmetry, determined by a colder dawnside. The whole tail becomes hotter during substorms, but it appears that most of the energy is deposited near Earth.