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Non-dipolar magnetic field models and patterns of radio emission: Uranus and Neptune compared

The magnetic field geometries of Uranus and Neptune are superficially similar, and are similarly unlike those of other planets: the field strengths are similar, and they contain extraordinarily large non-dipolar components. As a corollary, the best dipolar field models of each of the two planets comprises a dipole that is considerably offset from the planetary center and tilted away from the rotational axis. However, in other respects the best field models of the two planets are quite different. Uranus has a quadrupole model in which all the terms are well determined and in which none of the higher order terms is determined. To represent the magnetometer data acquired during Voyager's Neptune encounter requires a model of order 8 (instead of Uranus' order 2), yet many of the coefficients are poorly determined. A second model, an octupole model comprising the terms up to order three of the order 8 model, has been suggested by the magnetometer team as being useful; its use, however, is limited only to the region outside of about 2R(exp N), whereas planetary radio emissions have their sources well inside this surface. Computer code has been written that permits an analysis of the detailed motion of low energy charged particles moving in general planetary magnetic fields. At Uranus, this code reveals the existence of an isolated region of the inner magnetosphere above the day side in which particles may be trapped, separate from the more general magnetospheric trapping. An examination of the so-call ordinary mode uranian radio emissions leads us to believe that these emissions are in fact extraordinary mode emissions coming from particles trapped in this isolated region. A similar attempt to discover trapping regions at Neptune has proved, unfortunately, to be impossible. This arises from three factors: (1) the computation needed to track particles in an eighth order field is more than an order of magnitude greater than that needed to perform a similar calculation in a quadrupole field, and is beyond the capacity of workstation-class computers; (2) the octupole field model is known to be in error by too large an ammount for it, or any similarly truncated version of the eighth order model, to produce trustworthy results; (3) the eighth order model can, in effect, be infinitely varied without affecting the field strength along the spacecraft trajectory.

Evans, D. R.↗

Iron abundance and magnetic permeability of the moon

A set of simultaneous data from the Apollo 12 lunar surface magnetometer and the Explorer 35 Ames magnetometer are used to construct a whole-moon hysteresis curve, from which a new value of global lunar permeability is determined to be mu = 1.012 + or - 0.006. The corresponding global induced dipole moment is 2.1 x 10 to the 18th power gauss-cucm for typical inducing fields of .1000 gauss in the lunar environment. From the permeability measurement, lunar free iron abundance is determined to be 2.5 + or - 2.0 wt. %. Total iron abundance is calculated for two assumed compositional models of the lunar interior: a free iron/orthopyroxene lunar composition and a free iron/olivine composition. The overall lunar total iron abundance is determined to be 9.0 + or - 4.7 wt. %. Other lunar models with a small iron core and with a shallow iron-rich layer are discussed in light of the measured global permeability. Effects on permeability and iron content calculations due to a possible lunar ionosphere are also considered.

Parkin, C. W.↗

A study of the electric field in an open magnetospheric model

Recently, Svalgaard and Heppner reported two separate features of the polar electromagnetic field that correlate with the dawn-dusk component of the interplanetary magnetic field. This work attempts to explain these findings in terms of properties of the open magnetosphere. The topology and qualitative properties of the open magnetosphere are first studied by means of a simple model, consisting of a dipole in a constant field. Many such properties are found to depend on the separation line, a curve connecting neutral points and separating different field line regimes. In the simple model it turns out that the electric field in the central polar cap tends to point from dawn to dusk for a wide variety of external fields, but, near the boundary of the polar cap, electric equipotentials are deformed into crescents.

Stern, D. P.↗

Observations of interplanetary plasma waves, spacecraft noise, and sheath phenomena on Imp 7

The Imp 7 plasma wave instrument measures electric and magnetic wave components of plasma oscillations over the frequency range from 10 Hz to 100 kHz. The instrumentation and relevant external characteristics of the spacecraft that appear to be responsible for some in-flight disturbance effects are briefly described. It is shown that as each one of the 16 solar panel flats rotates into shadow or sunlight, the array transients produce fluctuating magnetic fields that are detected on the magnetic loop mounted 3.4 m from the spacecraft. These transients occur 16 times per spin period, and the corresponding magnetic noise has a high frequency on the rapidly spinning Imp 7 spacecraft. The analysis suggests that some Imp magnetic threshold levels measured 3-4 m from the spacecraft are determined by the solar array current transient effects associated with the discrete 16-sided geometry of the spacecraft. The geometry also influences the response of the electric dipole antenna by modulating the sheath.

Scarf, F. L.↗

The planetary magnetic field and magnetosphere of Jupiter - Pioneer 10

Data obtained by the Pioneer 10 vector helium magnetometer are presented along with models of the intrinsic magnetic field of Jupiter and its magnetosphere. Data acquired between 2.84 and 6.0 Jupiter radii, where the intensity of the planetary field ranged between 1900 and 18,400 gamma, were used to develop a six-parameter eccentric dipole model of the field. The dipole so derived has a moment of 4.0 G (R sub J) cubed and a tilt angle with respect to Jupiter's rotation axis of 11 deg. A model of the Jovian magnetosphere is presented in which the essential feature is an eastward current sheet that forms an annulus with Jupiter at the center. At large distances from the planet the current sheet is nearly parallel to Jupiter's equator but, in general, does not lie in it. The current sheet is warped, so that it is above the equator on one side and below it on the other. The current sheet rotates with the planet, more or less like a rigid body, this behavior causes an apparent up and down motion and periodic crossings of the current sheet by Pioneer.

Smith, E. J.↗

Iron abundance and magnetic permeability of the moon

A larger set of simultaneous data from the Apollo 12 lunar surface magnetometer and the Explorer 35 Ames magnetometer are used to construct a whole-moon hysteresis curve, from which a new value of global lunar permeability is determined to be mu = 1.012 + or - 0.006. The corresponding global induced dipole moment is 2.1 x 10 to the 18th power gauss-cu cm for typical inducing fields of .0001 gauss in the lunar environment. From the permeability measurement, lunar free iron abundance is determined to be 2.5 + or - 2.0 wt. %. Total iron abundance (sum of iron in the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic states) is calculated for two assumed compositional models of the lunar interior: a free iron/orthopyroxene lunar composition and a free iron/olivine composition. The overall lunar total iron abundance is determined to be 9.0 + or - 4.7 wt. %. Other lunar models with a small iron core and with a shallow iron-rich layer are discussed in light of the measured global permeability.

Parkin, C. W.↗

Iron abundance and magnetic permeability of the moon

A larger set of simultaneous data from the Apollo 12 lunar surface magnetometer and the Explorer 35 Ames magnetometer are used to construct a whole-moon hysteresis curve, from which a new value of global lunar permeability is determined to be mu = 1.012 + or - 0.006. The corresponding global induced dipole moment is 2.1 times ten to the eighteenth power gauss-cu cm for typical inducing fields of one ten-thousandth gauss in the lunar environment. From the permeability measurement, lunar free iron abundance is determined to be 2.5 + or - 2.0 wt %. Total iron abundance (sum of iron in the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic states) is calculated for two assumed compositional models of the lunar interior: a free iron/orthopyroxene lunar composition and a free iron/olivine composition. The overall lunar total iron abundance is determined to be 9.0 + or - 4.7 wt %. Other lunar models with a small iron core and with a shallow iron-rich layer are discussed in light of the measured global permeability. Effects on permeability and iron content calculations due to a possible lunar ionosphere are also considered.

Parkin, C. W.↗

Equivalent source modeling of the core magnetic field using magsat data

Experiments are carried out on fitting the main field using different numbers of equivalent sources arranged in equal area at fixed radii at and inside the core-mantle boundary. In fixing the radius for a given series of runs, the convergence problems that result from the extreme nonlinearity of the problem when dipole positions are allowed to vary are avoided. Results are presented from a comparison between this approach and the standard spherical harmonic approach for modeling the main field in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency. The modeling of the main field with an equivalent dipole representation is found to be comparable to the standard spherical harmonic approach in accuracy. The 32 deg dipole density (42 dipoles) corresponds approximately to an eleventh degree/order spherical harmonic expansion (143 parameters), whereas the 21 dipole density (92 dipoles) corresponds to approximately a seventeenth degree and order expansion (323 parameters). It is pointed out that fixing the dipole positions results in rapid convergence of the dipole solutions for single-epoch models.

Mayhew, M. A.↗

Global High Resolution Crustal Magnetic Field at the Surface of the Moon from Low-Altitude Lunar Prospector Magnetic Gradient Data

We derived new vector gradients based models of crustal magnetic field at the lunar surface with data from the Lunar Prospector (LP) satellite using two model parameterization approaches: a global set of 35820 1° spaced (~30 km) equal area monopoles at 20 km below the surface (O’Brien and Parker, 1994; Olsen et al., 2017) and combined results of subsets of 100000 0.66° spaced monopoles at the same depth. We use the scheme of iteratively reweighted least-squares inversion to compute the initial model. Then the amplitudes of these monopoles are determined by minimizing the misfit to the components together with the global average of |Br| at the ellipsoid surface (i.e. applying a L1 model regularization of Br). In previous approaches using vector fields for modeling, we found that external field contamination leads to spurious anomalies in the downward continued field models even with stringent data selection criteria and ad-hoc noise removal techniques (e.g., satellite’s position in the Moon’s wake w.r.t. the solar wind and in the Earth’s magnetotail, internal/external dipoles fields removal, low-order polynomial removal, joint equivalent source cross-validation technique and visually removing remaining anomalous segments). On the other hand, with the use of gradients-only data (along-track first finite differences), we were able to completely bypass the ad-hoc techniques. Similar processing of Kaguya magnetic data, which have only higher altitude coverage over the most of the Moon except in the region of the South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin, completely misses some of the anomalies seen in the Lunar Prospector data. The combined Lunar Prospector and Kaguya gradient-based models also severely degrade the derivation of the anomaly fields in many regions. Euler analysis of isolated anomaly features from the Reiner Gamma swirl suggests top depths of about 0.3 to 1.5 km and center depths of 10-14 km; in the region between Stein and Vallier craters north of the SPA basin our analysis suggests top depths of around 1.5 km and center depths of 13-15 km. With the spectral depth determination techniques, the SPA basin region yields depths to the base of magnetization ranging between 15 and 40 km. Three-dimensional modeling and the bulk magnetization determinations of the sources constrained by the Euler and spectral methods is underway.

Gradient↗

What we have learned from the magnetosphere

Three significant discoveries resulting from recent studies of earth's magnetosphere are discussed: (1) the central role of magnetic-field-line reconnection in determining the topology, geometry, and dynamics of the magnetosphere; (2) the realization that auroral arcs result from coupling of solar-wind stresses to the ionosphere and neutral atmosphere; and (3) the role of plasma turbulence in affecting both the microscopic state and macroscopic observables of the magnetospheric plasma. Magnetic-field-line reconnection is described in terms of Dungey's (1961) model of the magnetosphere, a simple picture of magnetic-substorm evolution is outlined, and questions concerning the reconnection rate are considered. The production of aurorae by field-aligned electron beams is examined, and an analogy is made between earth's magnetosphere and that of a pulsar with aligned dipole and spin axes. Plasma-turbulence problems are reviewed which concern anomalously fast electron and proton losses from the Van Allen belts, whistler-electron interactions, and anomalous resistance in auroral arcs. The Pioneer 10 encounter with Jupiter's magnetosphere is briefly noted.

Kennel, C. F.↗

The magnetic field of the equatorial magnetotail - AMPTE/CCE observations at R less than 8.8 earth radii

The MPTE/CCE magnetic field experiment has been used to obtain a quantitative evaluation of the frequency and extent of magnetic field distortion in the near-tail region at less than 8.8 earth radii. The variation of this distortion with Kp, radial distance, longitude, and near-equatorial latitude is reported. It has been found that taillike distortions from the dipole field direction may reach 80 deg near the MPTE/CE apogee of 8.8 earth radii. The Bz field component in dipole coordinates was always positive within 0.5 earth radii of the equatorial current sheet, indicating the neutral lines were never seen inside of 8.8 earth radii. Fields were most taillike near midnight and during times of high Kp. At 8.5 earth radii the equatorial field magnitude depressions were roughly half the dipole field strength of 51 nT. These depressions are larger at lesser distances, reaching -40 nT at 3.4 earth radii for Kp of 2- or less and -80 nT and Kp of 3+ and greater.

Fairfield, D. H.↗

System III variations in apparent distance of Io plasma torus from Jupiter

System III variations in apparent distance of the Io plasma torus from Jupiter are examined on the basis of data obtained from UVS scans across Jupiter's satellite system. The displacement of the dawn and dusk ansae are found to be unexpectedly complex. The displacements are unequal and both ansae are in motion with the motion of the approaching ansa being the lesser of the two. The radial motions, as measured from either the center of Jupiter or the offset-tilted dipole, are of unequal magnitude and have the System III periodicity. It is concluded that the cross-tail electric field that causes these torus motions is concentrated on the dusk ansa, varied with the System III period, and shows magnetic-anomaly phase control. It is found that the dawn-dust asymmetry in brightness is not explained simply by the cross-tail electric field. It is concluded that there is a heating mechanism that causes the dusk side of the Io plasma torus to be brighter than the dawn side.

Dessler, A. J.↗

Waves in the vicinity of the magnetopause

IMP 6 magnetic-field measurements demonstrate that the magnetopause is a complex variable boundary with few specific characteristics that persist from orbit to orbit. The appearance of the local magnetopause is determined largely by the boundary conditions imposed by the interplanetary field and the geomagnetic dipole. Magnitude changes across the magnetopause are frequently absent, and if concurrently the magnetosheath and magnetosphere fields also happen to be aligned, then the Chapman-Ferraro current sheet is absent. Ion-cyclotron waves are identified in the magnetosheath near the magnetopause. Similar waves near the proton gyrofrequency are frequently seen in the current sheet associated with a large-angle change at the boundary. Such waves may be important in the transfer of particles and momentum into the magnetosphere. Tailward propagating waves on the magnetopause boundary are found to be responsible for multiple crossings of the tail boundary at 32 earth radii. Monochromatic waves are occasionally seen in the magnetosphere at frequencies slightly below the proton gyrofrequency.

Fairfield, D. H.↗

The magnetic field of Saturn - Pioneer 11 observations

The Pioneer 11 high-field fluxgate magnetometer experiment consists of two biaxial fluxgate sensors assemblies and an associated electronics system that is designed to measure fields up to 10 gauss along three orthogonal axes. It was used to provide a higher upper range than that provided by the helium vector magnetometer whose maximum measureable field is only 1.4 gauss. Observations of the intrinsic magnetic field of Saturn measured by the high-field fluxgate magnetometer were found to be much weaker than expected. An analysis of preliminary data combined with the preliminary trajectory yield a model for the main planetary field which is a simple centered dipole. It was determined that the polarity of Saturn is opposite that of Earth, and that the tilt is small, within 2 deg plus or minus 1 deg.

Acuna, M. H.↗

Irregularities in the secular variation and geodynamic implications; Proceedings of the Session, Cincinnati, OH, May 17, 1984

Consideration is given to: variations in the Gauss coefficients of the geomagnetic potential over the last several hundred years; eccentric geomagnetic dipole drift; and evidence for geomagnetic jerks from 1931 to 1971. Among other topics discussed are: models of the geomagnetic field in western Europe from 1960 to 1980; the external and internal parts of the geomagnetic jerk of 1970; secular variation of the magnetic mean energy density at the source layer depth; and motions at the core surface in the geostrophic approximation. Consideration is also given to: the unpredictability of geomagnetic secular variation; the use of short-term core-mantle coupling and geomagnetic variation impulses as Lagrangian tracers of core motions; and a comparison of two sequential geomagnetic polarity transitions in the upper Olduvai and the lower Jarmillio in the Southern Hemisphere.

Taylor, P.↗

Rates of change of the earth's magnetic field measured by recent analyses

Typical rates of change of the earth's magnetic field are presented as a function of the earth's spherical harmonics. Harmonics up to the eight degree are analyzed. With the increase in the degree of the harmonics an increase in the relative rate of change can be observed. For higher degrees, the rate of change can be predicted. This enables a differentiation between harmonics originating in the core and harmonics caused by crustal magnetization. The westward drift of the magnetic field depends on the longitudinal gradient of the field. In order to determine the longitudinal motions, harmonics up to degree 20 can be utilized. The average rate of secular acceleration increases with the degree of harmonics from 0.001 deg/sq yr for a dipole term to an average of 0.05 deg/sq yr for degree eight harmonics.

Harrison, C. G. A.↗

Drift shell splitting by internal geomagnetic multipoles.

Computations on an 80-coefficient model of the earth's field illustrate the 'topography' of the magnetic equatorial surface and the geometry of the drift shells of geomagnetically trapped particles. Individual terms in the spherical harmonic expansion of the geomagnetic scalar potential V(r, theta, phi) are either even or odd in cos theta, where theta = 90 deg denotes the dipole equator. Terms that are even in cos theta tend to 'warp' the equatorial surface, but do not (in first order) distort particle drift shells radially nor split the drift shells of particles having different equatorial pitch angles. Azimuthally asymmetric terms that are odd in cos theta do cause shell splitting in first order. Shell splitting at large L values (neglecting deformation of the earth's field by the solar wind) is found to be dominated by the geomagnetic octupole. At L approximately equal to 1, shell splitting is strongly enhanced by the South American and South African anomalies. When combined with pitch angle diffusion caused by atmospheric scattering, these results may be able to account for anomalous radial diffusion of inner zone electrons.

Roederer, J. G.↗

Energy transfer in NH3-He collisions

The paper presents a new electron gas intermolecular NH3-He potential determined by the Hartree-Fock results of Davis, Boggs, and Mehrotra (1979) with semiempirical long-range induction and dispersion terms. The resulting potential agrees with beam scattering and pressure broadening measurements; it was also found that the quadrupole induced dipole interaction is not as effective as the short range anisotropy. It was concluded that discrepancies remain in the quantitative description of energy transfer in the NH3-He system; discrepancies result from improper consideration of the dependence of cross-sections on degenerate magnetic quantum levels in the experimental investigation.

Green, S.↗