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Richards, P. G.

Publications and source records attributed to Richards, P. G..

At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1994

Technique to retrieve solar EUV flux and neutral thermospheric O, O2, N2, and temperature from airglow measurements

We describe a method for retrieving neutral thermospheric composition and solar EUV flux from optical measurements of the O(+)(P-2) 732 nm and O(D-1) 630 nm airglow emissions. The parameters retrieved are the neutral temperature, the O, L2, and N2 density profiles, and a scaling factor for the solar EUV flux spectrum. The temperature, solar EUV flux scaling factor, and atomic oxygen density are first retrieved from the 732 nm emission, which are then used with the 630 nm emission to retrieve the O2 and N2 densities. Between the altitudes of 200 and 400 km the retrieval technique is able to statistically retrieve values to within 3.1% for thermospheric temperature, 3.3% for atomic oxygen, 2.3% for molecular oxygen, and 2.4% for molecular nitrogen. The solar EUV flux scaling factor has a retrieval error of 5.1%. We also present the results of retrievals using existing data taken from both groundbased and spacebased instruments. These include airglow data taken by the Visible Airglow Experiment on the Atmospheric Explorer spacecraft and the Imaging Spectrometric Observatory flown on the ATLAS 1 shuttle mission in 1992.

Fennelly, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Reevaluation of the O(+)(2P) reaction rate coefficients derived from Atmosphere Explorer C observations

O(+)(2P) is an important species for studies of the ionosphere and thermosphere: its emission at 7320 A can be used as a diagnostic of the thermospheric atomic oxygen density. Unfortunately, there are no laboratory measurements of the O and N2 reaction rates which are needed to determine the major sinks of (O+)(2p). We have recalculated the O and N2 reaction rates for O(+) (2P) using recent improvements in the solar EUV flux, cross sections, and photoelectron fluxes. For the standard solar EUV flux, the new N2 reaction rate of 3.4 +/- 1.5 x 10 exp -10 cu cm/s is close to the value obtained by Rusch et al. (1977), but the new O reaction rate of 4.0 +/- 1.9 x 10 exp -10 cu cm/sec is about 8 times larger. These new reaction rates are derived using neutral densities, electron density, and solar EUV fluxes measured by Atmosphere Explorer C in 1974 during solar minimum. The new theoretical emission rates are in good agreement with the data for the two orbits studied by Rusch et al.

Chang, T.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Mesospheric nightglow spectral survey taken by the ISO spectral spatial imager on ATLAS 1

This paper reports the first comprehensive spectral survey of the mesospheric airglow between 260 and 832 nm taken by the Imaging Spectrometric Observatory on the ATLAS 1 mission. We select data taken in the spectral window between 275 and 300 nm to determine the variation with altitude of the Herzberg I bands originating from the vibrational levels v-prime = 3 to 8. These data provide the first spatially resolved spectral measurements of the system. The data are used to demonstrate that to within an uncertainty of +/- 10 percent, the vibrational distribution remains invariant with altitude. The deficit reported previously for the v-prime = 5 level is not observed although there is a suggestion of depletion in v-prime = 6. The data could be used to place tight constraints on the vibrational dependence of quenching rate coefficients, and on the abundance of atomic oxygen.

Owens, J. K.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Thermospheric airglow emissions - A comparison of measurements from Atlas-1 and theory

A comprehensive thermospheric model is presently used to derive conditions appropriate to the time of the Atlas-1 Space Shuttle mission, comparing the slant-path intensities thus computed as a function of altitude, latitude, and local time with a dozen major emissions measured in the course of a specific observing sequence. The agreement thus obtained is found to be reasonably good, implying that the major thermospheric airglow-controlling processes are essentially understood.

Torr, Douglas G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The first negative bands of N2(+) in the dayglow from the Atlas-1 Shuttle mission

While the integrated column intensities in the 0-0 band emission at 3914 A, as measured from the Atlas-1 mission, are found to be in good agreement with model values, Spacelab 1 intensities appear to have been significantly affected by vehicle-induced effects. The ion environment, in particular, appears to have been highly perturbed. The absence of the large pressurized double-Spacelab module, and the revised Space Shuttle Orbiter processing procedures, appeared to have yielded a much improved remote sensing environment.

Torr, Marsha R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

N(2P) in the dayglow - Measurement and theory

During the ATLAS-1 mission, the first dayglow altitude profiles were obtained of the N(2P) emission at 3466 A. These observations were made in the sunlit thermosphere using the Imaging Spectrometric Observatory. As all previous work on this emission has been done under auroral conditions, this study represents the first examination of the photochemical sources and sinks of N(2P) in the normal daytime thermospheric, with comparison with measurements. We find that the observations are explained by a model in which the major source is photodissociation of N2, and quenching by O is the principal low-altitude loss process, with radiative decay to N(2D) dominating above 200 km. As the dominant loss processes are likely to result in the production of N(2D), N(2P) could be a moderate source of N(2D) and may be a factor to be taken into consideration in modeling NO.

Torr, Marsha R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Mesospheric nightglow spectral survey taken by the ISO spectral spatial imager on Atlas 1

This paper reports the first comprehensive spectral survey of the mesospheric airglow between 260 and 832 nm taken by the Imaging Spectrometric Observatory (ISO) on the ATLAS I mission. We select data taken in the spectral window between 275 and 300 nm to determine the variation with altitude of the Herzberg I bands originating from the vibrational levels v' = 3 to 8. These data provide the first spatially resolved spectral measurements of the system. The data are used to demonstrate that to within an uncertainty of + 10%, the vibrational distribution remains invariant with altitude. The deficit reported previously for the v' = 5 level is not observed although there is a suggestion of depletion in v' = 6. The data could be used to place tight constraints on the vibrational dependence of quenching rate coefficients, and on the abundance of atomic oxygen.

Owens, J. K.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The N2(+) first negative system in the dayglow from Spacelab 1

Data obtained by the Spacelab 1 Imaging Spectrometric Observatory represent the first simultaneous multiband spectral measurements of the N2(+) first negative system in the dayglow, and thus the first opportunity to make a detailed comparison of the vibrational and rotational distributions over bands out to nu-prime = 4, free of potential complications. The spectral images show that the bands of the N2(+) first negative system exhibit very unusual vibrational distributions (which correspond to surprisingly high apparent temperatures) and that the intensities are significantly higher than predicted. On the basis of observations of the intensity variation with the solar zenith angle and viewing elevation, it is suggested that there exists a significant induced N2(+) component near the shuttle, which fluoresces when the shuttle is sunlit.

Torr, Marsha R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

An improved algorithm for determining neutral winds from the height of the F2 peak electron density

The algorithm of Miller et al. (1986) for determining neutral winds in the thermosphere from the height of the F2 peak electron density is modified, making it possible to reduce the amount of computation time by two thirds. The improved algorithm also provides a more accurate reproduction of h(m)F2 by an ionospheric model than does the original algorithm. The winds obtained from the new algorithm were found to agree well with both the optical and radar measurements conducted at Arecibo on August 17-18, 1982.

Richards, P. G.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A method for the retrieval of atomic oxygen density and temperature profiles from ground-based measurements of the O(+)(2D-2P) 7320 A twilight airglow

This paper describes a technique for extracting thermospheric profiles of the atomic-oxygen density and temperature, using ground-based measurements of the O(+)(2D-2P) doublet at 7320 and 7330 A in the twilight airglow. In this method, a local photochemical model is used to calculate the 7320-A intensity; the method also utilizes an iterative inversion procedure based on the Levenberg-Marquardt method described by Press et al. (1986). The results demonstrate that, if the measurements are only limited by errors due to Poisson noise, the altitude profiles of neutral temperature and atomic oxygen concentration can be determined accurately using currently available spectrometers.

Fennelly, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Mid- and low-latitude model of thermospheric emissions. I - O(+) (2P) 7320 A and N2 (2P) 3371 A

This paper presents an interhemispherically coupled model of airglow emissions of the O(+) (2P) metastable state (7320 A) and the 0-0 band of the N2 second positive system (3371 A), covering mid- and low-latitudes. The model produces volume emission rates as a function of altitude, latitude, longitude, and local time for any selected data and solar and magnetic conditions, and, thus, can be used to provide three-dimensional maps of the selected emission for comparison with data obtained from orbiting vehicles. The semiglobal graphical maps of the 7320 A and 3371 A emissions illustrate the seasonal, diurnal, and solar cyclic variations on a scale that covers mid- and low-latitudes, as well as the effects of interhemispheric coupling (conjugate photoelectrons). It is shown that, in both cases, conjugate photoelectrons result in excitation at mid- to high- nighttime-latitudes in the winter hemisphere.

Torr, Marsha R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Auroral modeling of the 3371 A emission rate - Dependence on characteristic electron energy

An efficient two-stream auroral electron model is used to study the deposition of auroral energy and the dependence of auroral emission rates on characteristic energy. This model incorporates the concept of average energy loss to reduce the computation time. This simple two-stream model produces integrated emission rates that are in excellent agreement with the much more complex multistream model of Strickland et al. (1983) but disagrees with a recent study by Rees and Lummerzheim (1989) that indicates that the N2 second positive emission rate is a strongly decreasing function of the characteristic energy of the precipitating flux. These calculations reveal that a 10 keV electron will undergo approximately 160 ionizing collisions, with an average energy loss per collision of 62 eV before thermalizing. The secondary electrons are created with an average energy of 42 eV. When all processes including the backscattered escape fluxes are taken into account, the average energy loss per electron-ion pair is 35 eV in good agreement with laboratory results.

Richards, P. G.↗
NASA NTRS1990

The dependence of modeled OI 1356 and N2 Lyman Birge Hopfield auroral emissions on the neutral atmosphere

The sensitivity of selected auroral emissions to anticipated changes in the neutral atmosphere was investigated from the results of a series of sensitivity studies conducted using an auroral emission code developed by Richards and Torr (1990). In particular, the behavior of OI 1356 and two Lyman Birge Hopfield (LBH) bands and their ratios to each other with changing atmospheric composition was examined. It was found that, for anticipated average uncertainties in the neutral atmosphere (factor 2 at auroral altitudes), the resultant change in the modeled intensities is comparable to or less than the uncertainty in the neutral atmosphere. The variation in the I 1356/I 1838 ratio over the equivalent of a solar cycle is less than 50 percent, and the summer-to-winter changes are approximately a factor of 2.

Germany, G. A.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Plasmasphere-ionosphere coupling. II - Ion composition measurements at plasmaspheric and ionospheric altitudes and comparison with modeling results

This paper presents Dynamic Explorer data on the plasma coupling between the plasmasphere and ionosphere. DE 1 measurements of ion composition and temperatures at 1.4-3.5 R(F) in the plasmasphere were combined with DE-2 measurements of ion composition and electron and ion temperatures in the upper F region/topside ionosphere, closely spaced in universal and local time for cases in the November 6-11, 1981 period. The observations are compared directly with the field-line interhemispheric plasma (FLIP) model calculations of altitudinal ion density and temperature profiles. It was found that, when the FLIP model permitted fractional trapping of ionospheric photoelectrons and consequent plasmaspheric heating, good agreement with the observations was obtained.

Horwitz, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Neutral winds derived from IRI parameters and from the HWM87 wind model for the SUNDIAL campaign of September, 1986

Meridional neutral winds derived from the height of the maximum ionization of the F2-layer are compared with values from results of the HWM87 empirical neutral wind model. The time period considered in this study is the SUNDIAL-2 campaign, September 21 through October 5, 1986. Winds have been derived from measurements by a global network of ionosondes, as well as from similar quantities generated by the International Reference Ionosphere. Global wind patterns from the three sources are similar. Differences tend to be the result of local or transient phenomena that are either too rapid to be described by the order of harmonics of the empirical models, or are the result of temporal changes not reproduced by models based on average conditions.

Miller, K. L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Properties of large scale plasma flow during the early stage of the plasmaspheric refilling

The objective is to better characterize the macroscopic properties of the interhemisphere plasma flow by solving a more complete set of hydrodynamic equations than that solved previously. Specifically, the ion continuity, momentum and energy equations were solved for the plasma flow along the closed magnetic field lines. During the initial stage of the supersonic outflow in the equatorial region, the ions cool substantially. Using the hydrodynamic model for the large-scale plasma flow, the dynamics of shocks was examined which form in the geomagnetic flux tubes during the early stages of refilling. These shocks are more like those forming in neutral gases than the electrostatic shocks driven by microinstabilities involving ion-ion interaction. Therefore, the shocks seen in the hydrodynamic model are termed as hydrodynamic shocks. Such shocks are generally unsteady and therefore the usual shock jump conditions given by Rankine-Hugoniot relations are not strictly applicable to them. The density, flow velocity and temperature structures associated with the shocks are examined for both asymmetrical and symmetrical flows. In the asymmetrical flow the outflow from one of two conjugate ionospheres is dominant. On the other hand, in the symmetrical case outflows from the two ionospheric sources are identical. Both cases are treated by a two-stream model. In the late type of flow, the early-time refilling shows a relaxation type of oscillation, which is driven by the large-scale interactions between the two identical streams. After this early stage, the resulting temperature structure shows some interesting features. In the equatorial region the streams are isothermal, but in the off-equatorial regions the streams have quite different temperatures, and also densities and flow velocities. The dense and slow stream is found to be warmer than the low-density fast stream. In the late stage of refilling, the temperature is found to steadily increase from the conjugate ionospheres towards the equator; the equatorial temperature is found to be as high as about 8000 K compared to the ionospheric temperature of 3600 K.

Singh, Nagendra↗
NASA NTRS1990

Neutral winds derived from IRI parameters and from the HWM87 wind model for the sundial campaign of September, 1986

Meridional neutral winds derived from the height of the maximum ionization of the F2 layer are compared with values from results of the HWM87 empirical neutral wind model. The time period considered is the SUNDIAL-2 campaign, 21 Sept. through 5 Oct. 1986. Winds were derived from measurements by a global network of ionosondes, as well as from similar quantities generated by the International Reference Ionosphere. Global wind patterns from the three sources are similar. Differences tend to be the result of local or transient phenomena that are either too rapid to be described by the order of harmonics of the empirical models, or are the result of temporal changes not reproduced by models based on average conditions.

Miller, K. L.↗