Flux measurements made by CRRES of high-energy, equatorially mirroring protons in the range L≤3 are observed to differ greatly from diffusive steady state profiles, both before the magnetic storm of March 24, 1991, and during two intervals following it. Time rates of change of the phase space density f are obtained from time series of the observations and compared to those calculated from the time-dependent radial diffusion equation using profiles from the time averages of the observations. In general, good agreement is obtained for E≤20 MeV, indicating that the outer zone protons were undergoing diffusive relaxation from highly disturbed configurations. Such a configuration is known to have been produced by the March 1991 storm, and we hypothesize that a similarly disruptive event occurred prior to the CRRES launch. For particle energy above 20 MeV or L>3, limitations in the instrument sensitivity and integration time preclude a quantitative comparison. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union