Lightning‐induced electron precipitation from the magnetosphere

Precipitation of radiation belt particles induced by whistlers that are generated by atmospheric lightning discharges and propagate over L shells of 2–4.5 is considered. Using a test particle model of the whistler‐particle interaction, the energy spectra and temporal profile of whistler‐induced fluxes as a function of L shell are quantitatively determined for a representative plasmaspheric cold plasma distribution. Results indicate that for higher energy electron precipitation ( E > 40 keV) there exists an inner magnetospheric region (2 < L < 3) where the level of whistler‐induced precipitation can be expected to be comparatively high. Implications of this finding in terms of observational results are discussed.