Duskside Relativistic Electron Precipitation (DREP) Versus Microbursts as the Dominant Loss Mechanism From the Outer Belt.

Balloon missions have observed > 1 MeV electron precipitation on the duskside (DREP), while satellite observations seem to indicate that microbursts are the main loss mechanism of these electrons. In order to better understand this discrepancy, we present preliminary results of a study of SAMPEX data focusing primarily on the 100 millisecond data obtained by the HILT and PET instruments over the entire useful lifetime of the mission. We make an initial data cut to select only the bounce loss cone, which we set to be between L = [3,8] and with a conjugate mirroring altitude at or below 90 km, in order to ensure that we are observing local precipitation and not merely a trapped flux of electrons. We then use a transparent unbiased screen to find relativistic precipitation events and attempt to resolve their temporal and spatial structure and classify them as either DREP, microburst, or band precipitation.