Interrelation between localized energetic particle precipita ion and cold plasma inhomogeneities in the magnetosphere

Situations when localized precipitation of energetic (E > 30 keV) protons and electrons, associated with the development of cyclotron instability in the magnetosphere, is recorded during one satellite pass are identified in the data of particle flux observations on the NOAA-12 low-orbiting satellite. Such events were observed only in the evening sector of the magnetosphere. This precipitation is compared with the data on the cold (E < 10 eV) plasma density obtained on the LANL geostationary satellites. The comparison showed that the precipitation of energetic particles is related to the presence of cold plasma with a density of 20–100 cm^?3 in geostationary orbit in the evening sector of the magnetosphere. The conclusion has been made that the localized precipitation of energetic particles is generated at the edges of small-scale structures of cold plasma, forming the so-called “plasmaspheric tail,” i.e., the cold plasma region extending from the evening plasmapause toward the Sun.