We studied the geomagnetic, plasmaspheric, and solar wind context of relativistic electron precipitation (REP) events seen with the Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX), Proton Electron Telescope (PET) to derive an exponential folding energy E0 for each event. Events with E0< 400 keV peak near midnight, and with increasing E0, the peak magnetic local time (MLT) moves earlier but never peaks as early as the MLT distribution of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves in the outer belt, and a distinct component near midnight remains. Events with E0>750 keV near dusk (1400 < MLT < 2000) show correlations with solar wind dynamic pressure and proton density, AE index, negative Dst index, and an extended plasmasphere, all supporting an EMIC wave interpretation. Events with 500 keV 500 keV (“hard REP”), we estimate that roughly 45% of the whole population has the distributions of geomagnetic and solar wind parameters associated with EMIC waves, while 55% does not. We hypothesize that the latter events may be caused by current sheet scattering (CSS), which can be mistaken for EMIC wave scattering in that both simultaneously precipitate MeV electrons and keV protons. Since a large number of MeV electrons are lost in the near‐midnight hard REP events, and in the large number of E0< 400 keV events that show no dusk‐like peak at all, we conclude that CSS should be studied further as a possibly important loss channel for MeV electrons.

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.

BARREL is a multiple-balloon investigation designed to study electron losses from Earth’s Radiation Belts. Selected as a NASA Living with a Star Mission of Opportunity, BARREL augments the Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission by providing measurements of relativistic electron precipitation with a pair of Antarctic balloon campaigns that will be conducted during the Austral summers (January-February) of 2013 and 2014. During each campaign, a total of 20 small (∼20 kg) stratospheric balloons will be successively launched to maintain an array of ∼5 payloads spread across ∼6 hours of magnetic local time in the region that magnetically maps to the radiation belts. Each balloon carries an X-ray spectrometer to measure the bremsstrahlung X-rays produced by precipitating relativistic electrons as they collide with neutrals in the atmosphere, and a DC magnetometer to measure ULF-timescale variations of the magnetic field. BARREL will provide the first balloon measurements of relativistic electron precipitation while comprehensive in situ measurements of both plasma waves and energetic particles are available, and will characterize the spatial scale of precipitation at relativistic energies. All data and analysis software will be made freely available to the scientific community.