Earth’s radiation belts consist of relativistic electrons and ions trapped in the geomagnetic field. Radiation belt electrons can damage satellites, so it is important to develop accurate forecasts of the radiation belts. The British Antarctic Survey Radiation Belt Model (BAS-RBM) was developed to study the time-dependent electron fluxes in the radiation belts, and has been adapted into a forecasting model. This talk presents work from the first year of my PhD, focusing on improving BAS-RBM simulations of large geomagnetic storms. The talk will describe how gyro-resonant wave-particle interactions are modelled as diffusion of the velocity distribution function, and present some improvements to the diffusion rate calculations. The talk will also discuss the possible role of the plasmasphere in radial transport in the radiation belts.
