Inputs to the atmosphere from relativistic electrons

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Abstract
The precipitation rates into the atmosphere of electrons >1 MeV during a weak relativistic enhancement in the spring of 1979 have been derived from electron fluxes measured on a low‐altitude satellite, P78‐1. The inputs to the atmosphere were obtained from drift loss cone fluxes of electrons >1 MeV by using measurements with fine angular resolution at lower energies of the ratios of the direct precipitation rates to the fluxes of locally trapped electrons. The analyses indicated that often the inputs to the atmosphere may be primarily from precipitating electrons at pitch angles near the edge of the trapped fluxes, illustrating the inadequacy of broad angular resolution measurements for precipitation studies. The data showed a strong L dependence for the precipitation of relativistic electrons extending from L ≈ 2.5 to L ≈ 8.5, indicating the limitations of obtaining inputs to the atmosphere from high‐altitude measurements alone over a limited L shell range, such as at geosynchronous altitude (L ≈ 6.6). When summed over all longitudes and latitudes in the southern hemisphere, the total input energy rate of electrons >1 MeV precipitating into the atmosphere near the peak of the event on May 25‐30, 1979, was ∼5 × 1019 ergs d−1.