The Harvard-Smithsonian reference atmosphere
Harvard-Smithsonian reference atmosphere model of solar atmosphere, combining photosphere and quiet lower chromosphere
Cuny, Y.↗
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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Pressure sensing of the atmosphere by solar occultation using broadband CO2 absorption
A technique for obtaining pressure at the tangent point in an IR solar occulation experiment is described. By measuring IR absorption in bands of atmospheric CO2 (e.g., 2.0, 2.7, or 4.3 microns), mean pressure values for each tangent point layer (vertical thickness 2 km or less) of the atmosphere can be obtained with rms errors of less than 3%. The simultaneous retrieval of pressure and gas concentration in a remote-sensing experiment will increase the accuracy of inverted gas concentrations and minimize the dependence of the experiment on pressure or mass path error resulting from use of climatological pressure data, satellite ephemeris, and instrument pointing accuracy.
Park, J. H.↗
New atomic data of O/2+/
New atomic data are tabulated for the ion O(2+). Collision strengths are calculated for several energies of the exciting electron. The populations of the levels of O(2+) are calculated as a function of electron density under conditions appropriate for the solar atmosphere. The available solar data are compared with theoretical predictions of relative line intensities.
Bhatia, A. K.↗
The SOHO project - Coronal and solar wind investigations
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite mission is planned to study the solar interior, to investigate the physical phenomena related to the formation of the solar corona and the solar wind, and to make in situ measurements of the solar wind. The SOHO instruments designed to study the solar atmosphere and the solar wind are described. The experiments include the study of solar UV radiation, a coronal diagnostic spectrometer, an extreme UV imaging telescope, a UV coronagraph spectrometer, a white light and spectrometric coronagraph, and a study of solar wind anisotropies.
Poland, A. I.↗
Solar wind ion composition and charge states
The solar wind, a highly tenuous plasma streaming from the Sun into interplanetary space at supersonic speed, is roughly composed of 95% hydrogen and 5% helium by number. All other, heavy elements contribute less than 0.1% by number and thus are truly test particles Nevertheless, these particles provide valuable information not present in the main components. We first discuss the importance of the heavy ions as tracers for processes in the solar atmosphere. Specifically, their relative abundances are found to be different in the solar wind as compared to the photosphere. This fractionation, which is best organized as a function of the first ionization time (FIT) of the elements under solar surface conditions, provides information on the structure of the chromosphere. where it is imparted on the partially ionized material by an atom-ion separation mechanism. Moreover, the charge states of the heavy ions can be used to infer the coronal temperature, since they are frozen-in near the altitude where the expansion time scale overcomes the ionization/recombination time scales. Next, we review the published values of ion abundances in the solar wind, concentrating on the recent results of the SWICS instrument on Ulysses. About 8 elements and more than 20 charge states can be routinely analyzed by this sensor. There is clear evidence that both the composition and the charge state distribution is significantly different in the fast solar wind from the south polar coronal hole, traversed by Ulysses in 1993/94, as compared to the solar wind normally encountered near the ecliptic plane. The fractionation between low- and high-FIT elements is reduced, and the charge states indicate a lower, more uniform coronal temperature in the hole. Finally, we discuss these results in the framework of existing theoretical models of the chromosphere and corona, attempting to identify differences between the low- and high-latitude regions of the solar atmosphere.
vonSteiger, R.↗
Heat flux and viscosity of ions in the collisionless solar wind
Between 1 and 2 solar radii, the Coulomb-collision mean free path for thermal ions exceeds the scale height of the solar atmosphere. The expanding solar plasma becomes collisionless and the kinetics of the solar wind are no longer dominated by thermalizing collisions. The usual Braginskii-type expressions for solar wind ion heat flux and viscosity are no longer valid. However, another microscale still exists in the solar wind, dictated by the gyro-radius of ions in the turbulent embedded solar wind magnetic field. Wave-particle interactions will act to isotropize (but not thermalize) particle distributions, and the relevant microscale for this process is the ion gyro-radius. The ion distribution can be modelled as undergoing isotropizing 'collisions,' with the relevant mean free path scaling with gyro-radius. Here, the author presents the heat flux and viscosity expected for solar wind protons which are relaxing to isotropy on a microscale that scales with gyro-radius. The collisionless viscosity and heat flux have a functional dependence different than their collisional analogs. The collisional expressions for ion viscosity and heat flux drastically overestimate the efficiency of diffusive energy and momentum transport actually operative in the solar wind.
Williams, L. L.↗
Possible Space Missions for Solar Research After Solar Maximum Mission
This ad hoc panel met in February 1977 to consider the needs of solar physics for space missions after the scheduled flight of Solar Maximum Mission in 1979. We were concerned only with scientific needs and opportunities. Neither budgetary implications nor payload feasibility were considered. This report on the panel deliberations therefore makes suggestions only. We hope it will be a useful input to the more extensive and careful analysis of the appropriate committees, such as the Solar Physics Working Group. We have made no attempt to prioritize our proposed mission. The following possible missions are describes briefly: A Solar Terrestrial Environment Mission; two versions of a Stereo Mission; a Large Scale Solar Structure Mission; a Solar Atmosphere Mission; a Solar Particle Acceleration Mission; and a Solar Pinhole Mission. We also append a brief account of the proposed Solar Probe Mission.
Sturrock, P. A.↗
Solar Coronal Jets: Observations, Theory, and Modeling
Coronal jets represent important manifestations of ubiquitous solar transients, which may be the source of significant mass and energy input to the upper solar atmosphere and the solar wind. While the energy involved in a jet-like event is smaller than that of "nominal" solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), jets share many common properties with these phenomena, in particular, the explosive magnetically driven dynamics. Studies of jets could, therefore, provide critical insight for understanding the larger, more complex drivers of the solar activity. On the other side of the size-spectrum, the study of jets could also supply important clues on the physics of transients close or at the limit of the current spatial resolution such as spicules. Furthermore, jet phenomena may hint to basic process for heating the corona and accelerating the solar wind; consequently their study gives us the opportunity to attack a broad range of solar-heliospheric problems.
Raouafi, N. E.↗
Beyond Solar-B: MTRAP, the Magnetic Transition Region Probe
The next generation of solar missions will reveal and measure fine-scale solar magnetic fields and their effects in the solar atmosphere at heights, small scales, sensitivities, and fields of view well beyond the reach of Solar-B. The necessity for, and potential of, such observations for understanding solar magnetic fields, their generation in and below the photosphere, and their control of the solar atmosphere and heliosphere, were the focus of a science definition workshop, 'High-Resolution Solar Magnetography from Space: Beyond Solar-B,' held in Huntsville Alabama in April 2001. Forty internationally prominent scientists active in solar research involving fine-scale solar magnetism participated in this Workshop and reached consensus that the key science objective to be pursued beyond Solar-B is a physical understanding of the fine-scale magnetic structure and activity in the magnetic transition region, defined as the region between the photosphere and corona where neither the plasma nor the magnetic field strongly dominates the other. The observational objective requires high cadence (less than 10s) vector magnetic field maps, and spatially resolved spectra from the IR, visible, vacuum UV, to the EUV at high resolution (less than 50km) over a large FOV (approximately 140,000 km). A polarimetric resolution of one part in ten thousand is required to measure transverse magnetic fields of less than 30G. The latest SEC Roadmap includes a mission identified as MTRAP to meet these requirements. Enabling technology development requirements include large, lightweight, reflecting optics, large format sensors (16K x 16K pixels) with high QE at 150 nm, and extendable spacecraft structures. The Science Organizing Committee of the Beyond Solar-B Workshop recommends that: (1) Science and Technology Definition Teams should be established in FY04 to finalize the science requirements and to define technology development efforts needed to ensure the practicality of MTRAP's observational goals; (2) The necessary technology development funding should be included in Code S budgets for FY06 and beyond to prepare MTRAP for a new start no later than the nominal end of the Solar-B mission, around 2010.
Davis, John M.↗
The reaction of the atmosphere to solar disturbances
The effect of solar flares on the thermosphere and the troposphere is investigated. It is found that during periods of geoeffect solar disturbances, there is a connection between phenomena in the upper and lower atmospheres and that variations in atmospheric parameters correlate with changes in the geomagnetic index.
Mikhnevich, V. V.↗
The solar flare environment
Solar flare environment - solar atmosphere, photosphere, chromosphere, corona, and solar flare types, model, occurence, prediction, and shielding
PHOTOSPHERE↗
Solar flare energetics
A review is presented regarding the current knowledge of the energetics of solar flares. Recent observations by the Solar Maximum Mission and by balloon-borne instrumentation indicate that the flare hard X-ray emission arises from nonthermal bremsstrahlung - the collisions of fast electrons into a cold ambient medium (Ee much greater than kT). Under this interpretation, most of the energy released for many flares is initially contained in the energetic electrons. These electrons can produce most of the observed flare phenomena via interactions with the solar atmosphere. In large flares a shock wave may result from explosive heating of the solar atmosphere by these electrons. This shock wave can accelerate nuclei to relativistic energies. It is argued that recent SMM observations of fast gamma-ray bursts are consistent with this picture of shock acceleration of nuclei.
Lin, R. P.↗
Formation of Amino Acids and Carboxylic Acids in Weakly Reducing Planetary Atmospheres by Solar Energetic Particles from the Young Sun
Life most likely started during the Hadean Eon; however, the environmental conditions which contributed to the complexity of its chemistry are poorly known. A better understanding of various environmental conditions, including global (heliospheric) and local (atmospheric, surface, and oceanic), along with the internal dynamic conditions of the early Earth, are required to understand the onset of abiogenesis. Herein, we examine the contributions of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar energetic particles (SEPs) associated with superflares from the young Sun to the formation of amino acids and carboxylic acids in weakly reduced gas mixtures representing the early Earth’s atmosphere. We also compare the products with those introduced by lightning events and solar ultraviolet light (UV). In a series of laboratory experiments, we detected and characterized the formation of amino acids and carboxylic acids via proton irradiation of a mixture of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, and water in various mixing ratios. These experiments show the detection of amino acids after acid hydrolysis when 0.5% (v/v) of initial methane was introduced to the gas mixture. In the set of experiments with spark discharges (simulation of lightning flashes) performed for the same gas mixture, we found that at least 15% methane was required to detect the formation of amino acids, and no amino acids were detected in experiments via UV irradiation, even when 50% methane was used. Carboxylic acids were formed in non-reducing gas mixtures (0% methane) by proton irradiation and spark discharges. Hence, we suggest that GCRs and SEP events from the young Sun represent the most effective energy sources for the prebiotic formation of biologically important organic compounds from weakly reducing atmospheres. Since the energy flux of space weather, which generated frequent SEPs from the young Sun in the first 600 million years after the birth of the solar system, was expected to be much greater than that of GCRs, we conclude that SEP-driven energetic protons are the most promising energy sources for the prebiotic production of bioorganic compounds in the atmosphere of the Hadean Earth.
Kensei Kobayashi↗
Modulation of solar cosmic rays
Consideration is given to whether the modulation of low energy solar cosmic ray nuclei between the sun and earth can be so extreme that the fluxes observed at 1 AU imply (1) that the cosmic ray energy density in the solar atmosphere is comparable to the thermal energy density, and/or (2) that the cosmic ray intensity is sufficient in the solar atmosphere to produce detectable fluxes of secondary particles such as low energy positrons. It was found that such large modulation is compatible with observations, provided that the modulation occurrence is confined within a solar envelope lying within approximately 0.2 to 0.3 AU of the sun. There is, however, no compelling observational evidence to require that the modulation is this large.
Fisk, L. A.↗
Solar wind Acceleration from the Upper Chromosphere to the Corona in Coronal Hole Regions
The dynamic behavior of the plasma in the chromosphere/transition region /inner corona is vital for the acceleration of the solar wind. With new theoretical descriptions of the solar atmosphere and corona, and the increased observational possibilities provided by the SOHO spacecraft, it is possible to conduct an integrated study of the solar atmosphere and corona using observational and theoretical approaches. Over the past few years a series of observational techniques have been used to estimate the solar wind densities, temperatures and flow speed in the inner corona. These estimates suggest that the solar wind has higher outflow speeds in the inner corona and lower densities than previously assumed. A comparison with densities derived from atmospheric models support these lower densities.
Esser, Ruth↗
Cross-Scale Observational Signatures of Magnetic Reconnection
Magnetic reconnection is a significant mechanism for energy release across many astrophysical applications. In the solar atmosphere, reconnection is considered a primary contributor of flare evolution and coronal heating. Directly observing reconnection occurring in the solar atmosphere, however, is not trivial considering that the scale size of the diffusion region is magnitudes smaller than the observational capabilities of current instrumentation, and coronal magnetic field measurements are not currently sufficient to capture the process. Meanwhile, reconnection occurring in the Earth's magnetosphere transfers energy from the solar wind through a comparable process, although on vastly different scales. Magnetospheric measurements are made in situ rather than remotely; ergo, comparison of observations between the two regimes allows for potentially significant insight into reconnection as a stochastic and possibly turbulent process. We will present a set of observations from long-duration solar events and compare them to in situ measurements from the magnetosphere.
Savage, Sabrina↗
The Fe XI-excited fluorescent cascade in Ne IV
A theoretical spectroscopic investigation of the fluorescent cascade to be expected in nitrogen-like Ne IV, when it is resonantly photoexcited by Fe XI in the solar atmosphere, symbiotic stars, or novae, is described. Primary and secondary cascade intensities are obtained as functions of photoexcitation rate, and expected absolute intensities in the solar atmosphere are derived on the basis of observed Fe XI and Ne EUV emission. Comparisons between the spatially resolved solar situation and spatially unresolved stellar cases of cataclysmic variables, in which these ions have been found to coexist, are made. An interesting possibility of periodic time-dependent fluorescence exists for the binary cataclysmics.
Bhatia, A. K.↗
Defining the Middle Corona
The middle corona, the region roughly spanning heliocentric distances from 1.5 to 6 solar radii, encompasses almost all of the influential physical transitions and processes that govern the behavior of coronal outflow into the heliosphere. The solar wind, eruptions, and flows pass through the region, and they are shaped by it. Importantly, the region also modulates inflow from above that can drive dynamic changes at lower heights in the inner corona. Consequently, the middle corona is essential for comprehensively connecting the corona to the heliosphere and for developing corresponding global models. Nonetheless, because it is challenging to observe, the region has been poorly studied by both major solar remote-sensing and in-situ missions and instruments, extending back to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) era. Thanks to recent advances in instrumentation, observational processing techniques, and a realization of the importance of the region, interest in the middle corona has increased. Although the region cannot be intrinsically separated from other regions of the solar atmosphere, there has emerged a need to define the region in terms of its location and extension in the solar atmosphere, its composition, the physical transitions that it covers, and the underlying physics believed to shape the region. This article aims to define the middle corona, its physical characteristics, and give an overview of the processes that occur there.
Corona↗