Rocket measurements of relativistic electrons - New features in fluxes, spectra and pitch angle distributions

Novel features are presented of precipitating relativistic electron fluxes measured on a spinning sounding rocket payload at midday between altitudes of 70 and 130 km in the auroral region. The sounding rocket was launched during a relativistic electron enhancement event of modest intensity. Electron fluxes were measured for a total of about 210 seconds at energies from 0.1 to 3.8 MeV, while pitch angle was sampled from 0 to 90 deg every spin cycle. Electrons with energies below about 0.2 MeV showed isotropic pitch angle distributions during most of the first 90 sec of data, while at higher energies the electrons had the highest fluxes near the mirroring angle (90 deg); when they occurred, the noted downward bursts were seen at all energies. The low-altitude fluxes are compared with those measured at geostationary orbit, and it is found that the low-altitude fluxes are much higher than expected from a simple mapping of a pancake distribution at high altitudes.