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Young, D. T.

Publications and source records attributed to Young, D. T..

27 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1982

Observations near the magnetopause at the onset of the July 29, 1977, sudden storm commencement

Characteristics of an earthward movement of the magnetopause caused by the arrival of an interplanetary shockwave are derived from data acquired by the GEOS 1 spacecraft on July 29, 1977. Data were taken on electric field, plasma, magnetic field, energetic particles, and composition before, during, and after leaving the magnetopause. Correlative examinations were made with information gathered by the IMP 7, IMP 8, and ATS 6 satellites. The magnetopause was found to move earthward at 95 km/sec and had a thickness of 500 km. The existence of three different regions is postulated, one with field lines connected directly to the earth, the magnetosphere, a second, the magnetosheath, with no magnetic field line connection to the earth, and a thir; with one end of the field lines connected to the earth and the other to the interplanetary medium, called the transition region.

Knott, K.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Conical pitch angle distributions of very low-energy ion fluxes observed by ISEE 1

Observations are presented of conical distributions of low-energy ion fluxes from throughout the magnetosphere. The data were provided by the plasma composition experiment (PCE) on ISEE 1. ISEE 1 was launched in October 1977 into a highly elliptical orbit with a 30 deg inclination to the equator and 22.5 earth radii apogee. Particular attention is given to data taken when the instrument was in its thermal plasma mode, sampling ions in the energy per charge range 0-100 eV/e. Attention is given to examples of conical distributions in 0- to 100-eV/e ions, the occurrence of conical distributions of 0- to 100-eV ions in local time-geocentric distance and latitude-geocentric distance coordinates, the cone angles in 0- to 100-eV ion conics, Kp distributions of 0- to 100-eV ion conics, and some compositional aspects of 0- to 100-eV ion conics.

Horwitz, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Plasma and electric field boundaries at high and low altitudes on July 29, 1977

Hot plasma observations at high and low altitudes were compared. The plasma ion composition at high altitudes outside the plasmasphere was 0+. Heavy ions were also observed at low altitudes outside the plasmasphere. It is shown that at times these ions are found well below the plasmapause inside the plasmasphere. Comparisons of the low altitude plasma and dc electric fields show that the outer limits of the plasmasphere is not always corotating at the low L-shells. The corotation boundary, the estimated plasmapause boundary at the boundary of the inner edge of plasma sheet ions were at the same position. The inner edge of plasma sheet electrons is observed at higher latitudes than the plasmasphere boundary during disturbed times. The inner edge of the plasma sheaths shows a strong dawn to dusk asymmetry. At the same time the inner edge of the ring current and plasma sheath also moves to high latitudes reflecting an apparent inflation of the magnetosphere.

Fennell, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1981

ISEE 1 observations of thermal plasma in the vicinity of the plasmasphere during periods of quieting magnetic activity

An investigation of thermal plasma behavior in the vicinity of the plasmasphere during periods of quieting magnetic activity was conducted by combining thermal ion observations made with the plasma composition experiment on ISEE 1 with plasma density profiles obtained from plasma frequency measurements made with the same satellite's plasma wave experiment. During periods in which the magnetic activity quiets, the two regions characterized by H(+):He(+):O(+) (isotropic) and H(+):O(+):He(+) (field-aligned) ion species distributions (in order of dominance) are separated by a new region in which low-energy H(+) and He(+) are found flowing along the magnetic field lines. At other times, following quieting magnetic activity, distributions having peak fluxes at 90 deg pitch angle are observed in this region.

Horwitz, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Pancake pitch angle distributions in warm ions observed with ISEE 1

Observations of pancake (peak flux near 90-deg pitch angle) distributions of low-energy (not greater than 100 eV) ions are reported. Pancake distributions occur often in H(+) and He(+) simultaneously while O(+) fluxes are either undetectable or field-aligned. These H(+) and He(+) pancake distributions typically display characteristic energies of the order of 10 eV and are frequently mixed with higher density, colder isotropic, quasi-Maxwellian components. They appear often within the outer regions of the plasmasphere, and seem to occur most frequently on the dayside and near the magnetic equator.

Horwitz, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Initial thermal plasma observations from ISEE-1

The initial measurements of magnetospheric thermal ions by the Plasma Composition Experiment on ISEE-1 are presented to demonstrate the surprising variety in this plasma population. The data provide evidence that the adiabatic mapping of the high latitude ionosphere to the equatorial plasma trough provides an insufficient description of the origin, transport, and accumulation processes which supply low energy ions to the outer plasmasphere and plasma trough.

Baugher, C. R.↗
NASA NTRS1976

A satellite-borne ion mass spectrometer for the energy range 0 to 16 keV

The Ion Composition Experiment (ICE) on GEOS represents the first comprehensive attempt to measure the positive ion composition at high altitudes in the magnetosphere. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the magnetospheric plasma a novel mass spectrometer has been developed to cover the mass per charge range from H-1(+) to beyond Ba-138(+) and the energy per charge range from 0 to 16 keV/e. The ICE consists primarily of a cylindrical electrostatic analyzer followed by a curved analyzer incorporating crossed magnetic and electric fields. This combination has limited angular and energy focusing properties, but it maintains a mass resolution of about 4 over a wide range in energy and mass, sufficient for the objectives of measuring plasmas of both solar and terrestrial origin. High sensitivity and low background should allow measurements of rarer ion constituents down to flux levels of 0.01 ions/sq cm sec ster eV. A sophisticated electronics combined with powerful ground computer and telecommand systems allow for very efficient scanning of the mass-energy space.

Balsiger, H.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Magnetospheric plasma motion during a sudden commencement.

A sudden commencement occurred at 2348 UT on Feb. 15, 1967, when the ATS-1 satellite was about 2 hr past local noon at a geocentric distance of 6.6 earth radii. Plasma was observed by the Suprathermal Ion Detector first to flow in the antisolar direction, as expected, but then to flow westward, for about 2 min, at about 50 km/sec. Analysis of ground magnetograms suggests that the surprising westward flow, which must have involved an electric field of about 10 mV/m at 6.6 earth radii, resulted from the ionosphere's reaction to the sudden commencement. Beginning about 2 min before the start of the westward flow at ATS-1, ground magnetometers near the foot of the ATS-1 field line typically recorded magnetic-field deflections of about 70 gamma, to the northeast. Taking the ground observations, assuming a height-integrated Hall conductivity of 1 mho, and a standoff distance of 7.2 earth radii inferred from Explorer 33 solar-wind data, a magnetospheric electric field is derived which agrees in magnitude and direction with that required to produce the observed flow at ATS-1.

Lin, C.-A.↗