Using cross-correlation techniques to assess the validity of AP8 at low altitude

Background effects, such as single event upsets, are used as proxy data sets to evaluate AP8 at low altitude. The approach is to use a 2-D (longitude and latitude) cross-correlation between the background data set and the current-epoch AP8 predicted fluxes. The technique can be used to determine the energy of the particle that is producing a particular effect. This cross-correlation technique shows that using AP8 with a present-epoch magnetic field model accurately predicts the present location of the South Atlantic Anomaly proton flux enhancement and that a dual-peaked intensity structure above 100 MeV in the model is an artifact of AP8 and its interpolation routines.