摘要：Both ground and space observations are used extensively in the modeling of space weather processes within the Earth’s magnetosphere. In radiation belt physics modeling, one of the key phase-space coordinates is L*, which indicates the location of the drift paths of energetic electrons. Global magnetic field models allow a subset of locations on the ground (mainly subauroral) to be mapped along field lines to a location in space and transformed into L*, provided that the initial ground location maps to a closed drift path. This allows observations from ground, or low-altitude space-based platforms to be mapped into space in order to inform radiation belt modeling. Many data-based magnetic field models exist; however, these models can significantly disagree on mapped L* values for a single point on the ground, during both quiet times and storms. We present a state of the art probabilistic L* mapping tool, Pro-L*, which produces probability distributions for L* corresponding to a given ground location. Pro-L* has been calculated for a high resolution magnetic latitude by magnetic local time grid in the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. We have developed the probabilistic model using 11 years of L* calculations for seven widely used magnetic field models. Usage of the tool is highlighted for both event studies and statistical models, and we demonstrate a number of potential applications.
