Relativistic electron precipitation enhancements near the outer edge of the radiation belt

We examined characteristics of relativistic electron precipitation bursts observed by the Heavy Ion Large Telescope (HILT) experiment onboard the Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX) satellite. We report on relatively narrow, persistent, latitudinal bands of precipitation with time scales of 10∼30 sec near the outer edge of the radiation belt: these develop and decay with a time scale of a few hours. Acceleration processes more effective than the usual radial diffusion process or scattering process would be needed to explain this strong precipitation band phenomenon. Another prominent signature is microbursts with a time scale down to a few hundred milliseconds. It is suggest that these microbursts are due to wave‐particle interaction involving a relaxation‐oscillator type of mechanism.