Duskside relativistic electron precipitation as measured by SAMPEX: A statistical survey

• Published in: Journal of geophysical research. Space physics 2013-08, Vol.118 (8), p.5050-5058
• Main Authors: Comess, Max D., Smith, David M., Selesnick, Richard S., Millan, Robyn M., Sample, John G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: electron precipitation; Geophysics; radiation belt; SAMPEX; Solar cycle
• ISSN: 2169-9380; 2169-9402
• DOI: 10.1002/jgra.50481

Evidence for duskside relativistic electron precipitation (DREP) within the Earth's outer radiation belt has historically been seen in a few sets of high altitude balloon data (MAXIS, MINIS, INTERBOA), and in satellite data. We present statistical evidence that the relativistic electron precipitation events from the outer radiation belt with e‐folding energies > 0.5 MeV are concentrated in the dusk‐to‐midnight sector, based on a survey of data collected by the SAMPEX satellite from 1992 to 2004. A correlation between spectral hardness and duskside MLT is observed in our sample, the largest studied to date. Out of 9380 precipitation events within the bounce loss cone, 1048 are observed to have exponentially falling spectra with e‐folding energies above 0.5 MeV (“hard events”) and 1648 events below 0.2 MeV. Of the hard events, 81% occur within 12 h to 24 h MLT, compared to only 37% of events having e‐folding energies below 0.2 MeV. With microbursts removed from this softer population the percentage of duskside events rises to 46%. The hard events occur at slightly elevated levels of geomagnetic activity (Ap and Dst) relative to softer nonmicroburst events, but these correlations are much weaker than for microbursts. The hard events are observed to peak in occurrence at L ~ 5.5, significantly higher than nonmicroburst softer events, even though the opposite might be expected from compression of the magnetosphere due to the more negative average Dst of the hard events. The hard events are most prevalent during the declining phase of the 11 year solar cycle. Key Points The most relativistic precipitation events are in the dusk to midnight sector. They are only slightly correlated with geomagnetic activity, unlike microbursts. They peak at higher L than other events, and in the decline of the solar cycle.