Strong atmospheric disturbances as a possible origin of inner zone particle diffusion

A new mechanism of the atmosphere-magnetosphere interaction, which might be called "acoustic-magnetospheric cyclotron accelerator", is proposed. The i dea of this mechanism stems from the fact that strong acoustical perturbati ons in the ionosphere (e.g., due to earthquakes, thunderstorms, etc.) may g enerate magnetic disturbances in the magnetosphere. Then, the latter will i nduce local resonant acceleration and subsequent inward diffusion of trappe d particles. This idea may be fruitful in the interpretation of some occasi onal increases in inner zone particle fluxes which do not correlate with th e solar or magnetospheric activities.