Preliminary X-ray Results From A Multiple Balloon Campaign to Study Relativistic Electron Loss

The MINIS balloon campaign was successfully conducted in January 2005 to investigate relativistic electron loss mechanisms. Quantifying and understanding losses is an integral part of understanding the variability of relativistic electrons in the radiation belts. Balloon-based experiments directly measure precipitation and thus provide a method for quantifying losses, while the nearly stationary platform allows for the separation of temporal and spatial variations. A new class of precipitation event, characterized by extremely hard spectra, short durations, and complex temporal structure, occurring in the evening to midnight sector, was discovered by the INTERBOA balloon in 1996 and studied further by the MAXIS balloon in 2000. The MINIS campaign provided the first opportunities for multi-point measurements of electron precipitation up to MeV energies, including simultaneous measurements at different longitudes and at near-conjugate locations. Two balloons, each carrying an X-ray spectrometer for measuring the bremsstrahlung produced as electrons precipitate into the atmosphere, were launched from Churchill, Manitoba at 0850 UT on 21 January 2005 and 0140 UT on 25 January 2005. Four balloons, each carrying an X-ray spectrometer, a Z-axis search coil magnetometer, and a 3-axis electric field instrument providing DC electric field and VLF measurements in 3 frequency bands, were launched from the South African Antarctic Station (SANAE IV). The Southern launches took place at 1400 UT on 17 January, 1309 UT on 19 January, 2115 UT on 20 January, and 0950 UT on 24 January 24 2005. In this paper, we present the preliminary results from the MINIS North and South X-ray data. The first and second Southern payloads observed a rarely-seen phenomenon: gamma-ray line emission from nuclear interactions of solar protons in the Earth's atmosphere. When the solar particles abated, there were numerous opportunities for simultaneous observations of MeV precipitation from multiple payloads; we will present the first analysis of these data.