Direct observations of thermospheric winds during geomagnetic storms
Thermospheric winds measurement during geomagnetic storms with Fabry-Perot interferometer from Doppler shift of two 6300 A fringe profiles
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Thermospheric winds measurement during geomagnetic storms with Fabry-Perot interferometer from Doppler shift of two 6300 A fringe profiles
Neutral atmospheric composition and density variations during geomagnetic disturbances from OGO-6 satellite quadrupole mass analyzer measurements
Interplanetary magnetic sector polarity effects on polar geomagnetic field diurnal variation
With the use of a prediction technique it is shown that the polarity (toward or away from the sun) of the interplanetary magnetic field can be reliably inferred from observations of the polar geomagnetic field.
The regions of naturally occurring, geomagnetically trapped radiation are briefly reviewed in terms of physical parameters such as; particle types, fluxes, spectrums, and spatial distributions. The major emphasis is placed upon a description of this environment in terms of the radiobiologically relevant parameters of absorbed dose and dose-rate and a discussion of the radiological implications in terms of the possible impact on space vehicle design and mission planning.
A set of computer programs has been developed for the calculation of the geomagnetic field and the tracing of field lines in space. The basic subroutine, geocentric ALLMAG, contains coefficients for seven recently-published field models as built-in data statements. At execution time the user can vary the model and/or the time period by simply changing input parameters. Subroutine GDALMG is adapted for input and output in geodetic coordinates. ALLMAG and GDALMG are equivalent to Cain's FIELD and FIELDG, with the added flexibility of the choice of seven models. LINTRA traces field lines from any point in space to a specified altitude intersect in the same or opposite hemisphere, using any of the models contained in ALLMAG. Input is in either geocentric or geodetic coordinates, and output is returned in both. McIlwain's INVAR package, which calculates B and L, has been adapted to use ALLMAG. All programs are described in detail, and sample calculations are given.
OGO D observations of OI (6300A) emissions reveal a global pattern in the equatorial airglow undetected from the ground-based observations. The post sunset emission rate of OI is generally asymmetrical with respect to the geomagnetic equator and shows no apparent correlation with the ultraviolet airglow (OI 1304 and 1356A) and F region electron density measured simultaneously from the same spacecraft. Both the ultraviolet airglow and the ion density measured in the altitude region of 450 km follow similar latitudinal variations and exhibit properties of the equatorial ionospheric anomaly. The asymmetry in OI emission can be attributed to the asymmetry in the height of the F 2 maximum inferred from the height of the maximum emission. From correlative studies of the airglow and the ionospheric measurements, the mechanisms for the ultraviolet and the 6300A emission are discussed in terms of the processes involving radiative and dissociative recombinations. A relationship between molecular oxygen density and the integrated OI emission rate is derived and the feasibility of using this relationship for estimating O2 density is discussed.
Nearly monoenergetic positive ions flowing outward along magnetic-field lines in the high-latitude magnetotail, outside the plasma sheet, have been observed with Vela satellites. These ions, probably mainly protons, are detected only during geomagnetic storms. The ?storm particles' have average energies per charge ranging from about 0.3 to 3 kV, but at any instant the energy distribution is quite narrow, sometimes less than 10%. Their angular distribution is usually narrow, sometimes about 6 deg. Particles with storm-particle characteristics are not observed in the plasma sheet. Possible sources of the storm particles are considered, including the solar wind, magnetosheath, polar cusps, polar wind, or ionosphere, plasma sheet, solar neutral hydrogen streams, reconnection transfer of plasma into the magnetotail from the polar cusps, polar wind, or polar ionosphere, and parallel electric-field acceleration of the polar wind or ionosphere ions along the polar-cap magnetic-field lines. Of these possibilities, the electric-field acceleration is favored.
A study of the internal structure of the neutral sheet in the geomagnetic tail has been made from data obtained by the NASA-GSFC magnetic-field experiment on the Explorer 34 spacecraft during its tail passage in the first half of 1968. The data used in the analysis are individual measurements of the vector magnetic field at 2.56-sec intervals. The experimental results consist of statistical studies of relevant properties of the magnetic field as a function of field magnitude. The results do not support nearly one-dimensional field models with characteristic lengths for field variation parallel to the neutral sheet much larger than the neutral-sheet width. The principal conclusion from the data points toward consistency with a quasi-periodic (possibly turbulent) structure with a tendency to formation of magnetic loops as one might expect from stability studies.
Observation that the high-latitude trapping boundary for 20-keV electrons and 100-keV protons became very thin in the early morning hours during two intense substorms. The gradients were too steep to be maintained by drifting particles, so they must have been produced locally over the nightside of the earth. The flux gradient is seen to move at speeds in excess of 100 km/sec. Plasma appears to move away from the tail and around the earth at these high speeds during the sudden expansion phases of the substorms. The rapid plasma motion requires the presence of fluctuating electric fields that sometimes exceed 50 to 100 mV/m at a geomagnetic latitude of 30 deg on the L = 5 field line. These observations fit best into a model that contains two field-aligned sheet currents. The high electric fields that accompany the rapid plasma flow can produce nonadiabatic acceleration of 0.1- to 1-MeV electrons and protons.
Two field-line tracing experiments were conducted on an L = 1.26 magnetic flux tube over Kauai, Hawaii. Barium vapor was created by the detonation of a highly explosive shaped charge aligned with the geomagnetic field at a 467-km altitude. Barium ions traveled along the field line to the conjugate ionosphere in a tube 3 to 5 km in diameter, producing a visible streak along the entire 6900-km path length. Electric fields perpendicular to the magnetic field caused the ions to drift away from the true conjugate during transit, but extrapolation from subsequent ion drift rates allowed the conjugate to be identified and compared with several field models. Differing ion drift rates and directions at the conjugate points indicated that the electric field is not transferred unattenuated along field lines.
The observed close correlation between the plasmapause and micropulsations is explained on the basis of a universal instability model. Both theoretical and experimental studies of a nonhomogeneous magnetoplasma indicate that a steep plasma density gradient at the plasmapause is likely the origin of the universal instability in the magnetosphere. Drift waves excited at the plasmapause may be unstable in the direction of the electron drift and propagate eastward nearly perpendicularly to the magnetic field. The drift waves, however, tend to convert very quickly to ion sound or Alfven waves with a much larger phase velocity parallel to the magnetic field. This may be a possible source mechanism for rather regular geomagnetic micropulsations, and specific mechanisms are identified for the long- and short-period cases.
An observed influence of the interplanetary magnetic-sector structure on the geomagnetic variations in the polar cap appears to be due to the component of the interplanetary magnetic field near the ecliptic perpendicular to the earth-sun direction. This suggests that the observed effect on the ground originates in the front of the magnetosphere.
Unlike the negative polarity solar magnetic field large-scale regular features that correlate with enhanced solar activity regions, the positive polarity regular formations formed in the weak and old background magnetic fields seem to correlate well with geomagnetically enhanced periods of time (shifted for 4 days), which means that they seem to be the source of the quiet solar wind. This behavior of the large intervals of heliographic longitude with prevailing positive polarity fields may be followed to the end of the 18th cycle, during the declining part of the 19th cycle, and during the first half of the present 20th cycle of solar activity.
An observed influence is studied of the interplanetary magnetic sector structure on the geomagnetic variations in the polar cap which appears to be due to the component of the interplanetary magnetic field near the ecliptic perpendicular to the earth-sun direction. It is suggested that the observed effect on the ground originates in the front of the magnetosphere.
Simultaneous observations of ionspheric fading of 1550 MHz and 136 MHz radio waves from the ATS-5 spacecraft were recorded on the geomagnetic equator at Ancon, Peru. The observations were made during a period around the 1971 spring equinox; they show fades as great as 27 db at 136 MHz, and 6 db at 1550 MHz. The general characteristics of the scintillation signatures at the two frequencies are discussed with emphasis on comparison of the two frequencies with respect to rates and depths of fades. Typical statistical distributions of signal levels are also presented from which time availabilities of the signals relative to the median levels can be derived.
The Isis 1 satellite has made measurements of several ionospheric and related parameters, and the results of the various measurements have been compared in detail for two north transpolar passes during the geomagnetic storm of February 3, 1969. Simultaneous measurements were made of local electron and ion densities and temperatures, electron density between the satellite and the peak of the F layer, radio noise, and particle fluxes over a wide energy range extending down to 10 eV. Several features of the ionosphere (in particular, enhancements of radio noise, scale height, and plasma temperatures) appear to be due to soft-particle (100 eV to 1 keV) precipitation, which is related to magnetospheric structure as delineated by the observation of more energetic particles. The magnetosheath particles precipitating on the dayside of the polar cap are particularly effective.
Unpublished evidence is presented for a line in the H component magnetic power spectra belonging to the low frequency components of the geomagnetic field investigated by Currie (1966). This line is similar to the 54-day line detected by Fraser-Smith (1971) in spectra of the Ap index and its implications are discussed.