Low altitude measurements of precipitating protons, alpha particles, and heavy ions during the geomagnetic storm of 26-27 March 1978

During the geomagnetic storm of 26 March 1976, observations were made of precipitating protons, alpha particles, and heavy ions by two counter telescopes aboard the low-altitude S3-2 satellite. These observations are presented in this paper and their significance discussed. Briefly, a two zone precipitation region is observed on the night side, at L approx 2.7 and L approx 4.0 with an alpha/p ratio of about .008 in the low latitude region and about .0009 at higher latitude at 0.4 MeV/nucleon. The heavier ions, CNO nuclei, are seen in the low latitude zone with a CNO/alpha ratio of about .056 at 0.25 MeV/nucleon.