The Block IIA GPS satellites are equipped with a sensor designed to detect electromagnetic transients. Several phenomena will produce triggers in this sensor. They include earth-based electromagnetic transients such as lightning and two space-based phenomena--deep dielectric discharge and meteoroid or hyper-velocity micro-gram particle impact (HMPI). Energetic electrons in the GPS environment cause the deep dielectric charging. HMPIs cause triggers through the transient electric fields generated by the ejecta plasma. During the 1997 Leonid passage the energetic particle fluxes were very low. In the presence of such low fluxes the typical median trigger rate is 20 per minute with a standard deviation of about 20 per minute. Between 0800 UT and 1200 UT on November 17, 1997, the sensor on a specially configured satellite observed trigger rates more than 10 sigma above the nominal median rate. Sensors on other Block IIA GPS satellites also observed excess triggers during November. Detection is enhanced when the sensor antenna is oriented into the Leonid radiant. While many questions persist the authors feel that it is likely that the excess events during the November interval were caused by the close approach of the satellites to the Leonid meteoroid path
