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At least 127 records · Page 7

Thundercloud radio emission from cosmic-ray-shower ionization electrons

The drift of shower ionization electrons in thundercloud fields constitutes a traveling current pulse whose amplitude is modulated by shower development and by the thundercloud field. The radio emission from such a pulse is calculated for a simple modulation model. The response of electric dipole antennas to such pulses is evaluated. To distinguish shower ionization radio pulses from random noise, the use of two receiver bands centered at a common frequency is proposed. It is shown that the ratio of the power in the two bands can be used to distinguish shower ionization radio signals from random noise. For modulated current pulses traveling above the speed of light in a medium, an inverse modulation effect is found. For unmodulated current pulses traveling above the speed of light in a medium, a new class of realizations of the Cerenkov effect is discovered.

Tompkins, D. R., Jr.↗

Jupiter emission observed near 1 MHz

Emission from Jupiter has been observed by the IMP-6 spacecraft at 19 frequencies between 600 and 9900 kHz covering the period from April 1971 to October 1972. The Jovian bursts were identified in the IMP-6 data through the phase of the observed modulated signal detected from the spinning dipole antenna. Initial data reduction has isolated 177 events over a span of 500 days. These events persisted over a period between 1 and 60 min. Of these events at least 48 occurred during times in which Jupiter emission was being observed at either 16.7 or 22.2 MHz by ground-based instruments of the Goddard Space Flight Center Jupiter monitoring system. Large bursts were detectable from 9900 kHz down to 600 kHz, while smaller bursts ranged down to 1030 kHz.-

Brown, L. W.↗

Saturn radio emission near 1 MHz

Emission from the direction of the planet Saturn was observed by the IMP-6 spacecraft at 15 frequencies between 375 and 2200 kHz during the period April 1971 to October 1972. The Saturnian radio bursts were identified in the IMP-6 data through an analysis of the phase of the observed modulated signal detected from the spinning dipole antenna. Initial data reduction has isolated approximately 12 storms whose occurrence corresponded to times in which the spacecraft had an unobstructed view in the direction of Saturn. These events persisted over periods between one and ten minutes. Over the span of 500 days of data another 10 to 20 Saturnian events may exist, but positive identification is confused by the presence of terrestrial noise as well as a geometric ambiguity with Jupiter. A power spectral analysis of the storm occurrence times indicates a weak periodicity at 10h 30m + or - 5m at some of the observing frequencies. The spectral character of the radiation was found analogous to that of Jupiter.

Brown, L. W.↗

Surface electrical properties experiment

The Surface Electrical Properties Experiment (SEP) was flown to the moon in December 1972 on Apollo 17 and used to explore a portion of the Taurus-Littrow region. SEP used a relatively new technique, termed radio frequency interferometry (RFI). Electromagnetic waves were radiated from two orthogonal, horizontal electric dipole antennas on the surface of the moon at frequencies of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 Mhz. The field strength of the EM waves was measured as a function of distance with a receiver mounted on the Lunar Roving Vehicle and using three orthogonal, electrically small, loops. The interference pattern produced by the waves that travelled above the moon's surface and those that travelled below the surface was recorded on magnetic tape. The tape was returned to earth for analysis and interpretation. Several reprints, preprints, and an initial draft of the first publication of the SEP results are included. These documents provide a rather complete account of the details of the theory of the RFI technique, of the terrestrial tests of the technique, and of the present state of our interpretation of the Apollo 17 data.

Simmons, G.↗

Spectral behavior of Jupiter near 1 MHz

Emission from Jupiter has been observed by the IMP-6 spacecraft at 25 frequencies between 425 and 9900 kHz covering the period April 1971 to October 1972. The Jovian bursts were identified through the phase of the observed modulated signal detected from the spinning dipole antenna. Approximately 500 days of data have been scanned for Jupiter emissions with a positive detection of at least 382 events. The static spectral behavior of the emission has been investigated and can be divided naturally into three types. Type one (normal) shows a high correlation with earth-based observations and follows the same spectral behavior. These bursts are seldom detected much below 1 MHz. The second type (md-frequency) occurs near or below 1 MHz and shows low and high-frequency cutoffs. The emission peak is near 900 kHz with a 3 db bandwidth of approximately 450 kHz. A third type consists of a complex combination of the previous types.

Brown, L. W.↗

Electrostatic and electromagnetic turbulence associated with the earth's bow shock

Simultaneous measurements were made of the electric and magnetic field spectral densities in the earth's bow shock by a plasma wave experiment on the Imp 6 spacecraft. The frequency range of the plasma wave detector was 20 Hz to 200 kHz. Electric fields were measured with high-sensitivity 100-m long dipole antennas and magnetic fields were measured with single-turn loop antennas. Two components are distinguished in the electric field spectrum in the bow shock: one component has a broad peak centered in the region 200-800 Hz, while the other component increases monotonically with decreasing frequency. The magnetic field spectrum has only one component that increases monotonically with decreasing frequency and has an upper cutoff frequency near the local electron gyrofrequency. This magnetic field turbulence is judged to be caused by whistler mode waves. The monotonic component of the electric field spectrum is thought to be the electric field spectrum of these whistler mode waves.

Rodriguez, P.↗

Saturn radio emission near 1 MHz

Radio emissions from the direction of Saturn are analyzed which were observed by IMP-6 at 15 frequencies between 375 and 2200 kHz from April 1971 to October 1972. The radio bursts are identified in the IMP-6 data by a phase analysis of the spin-modulated signal from the spacecraft's dipole antenna, and approximately 12 storms are isolated whose occurrence corresponded to times when the spacecraft had an unobstructed view in the direction of Saturn. The spectral character of the radiation is found to be analogous to that of Jupiter, and a power-spectral analysis of the storm occurrence times indicates a weak periodicity for some of the observing frequencies. The Saturnian emission most similar to Jupiter's decametric emission is found to be strongest at 1100 kHz with a bandwidth of about 1000 kHz. A secondary spectral peak may exist at 400 kHz, which is similar to that observed for Earth and Jupiter. The detection of this nonthermal radio emission is shown to be the first direct evidence for the existence of a Saturnian magnetic field containing energetic particles.

Brown, L. W.↗

Possible radio emission from Uranus at 0.5 MHz

Radio emission from the direction of Uranus was detected in data from the radio astronomy experiment on the IMP-6 spacecraft. Previously, emission from the direction of Jupiter and Saturn was observed by the IMP-6 at a number of frequencies near 1 MHz during the period April 1971 to October 1972. These radio bursts were identified in the IMP-6 data through an analysis of the phase of the observed modulated signal detected from the spinning dipole antenna. This technique was applied to the direction of the planet Uranus with possible positive results. Over the approximately 500 days of data, three to six bursts with unique spectral characteristics were found. Identification with Uranus is confused by the likely presence of low level terrestrial and solar emission. The observed events persisted less than three minutes and are strongest in intensity near 0.5 MHz.

Brown, L. W.↗

HELIOS dual swept frequency radiometer

The HELIOS dual swept frequency radiometer, used in conjunction with a dipole antenna, was designed to measure electromagnetic radiation in space. An engineering prototype was fabricated and tested on the HELIOS spacecraft. Two prototypes and two flight units were fabricated and three of the four units were integrated into the HELIOS spacecraft. Two sets of ground support equipment were provided for checkout of the radiometer.

White, J. R.↗

Possible radio emission from Uranus at 0.5 MHz

Radio emission from the direction of Uranus has been detected in data from the Goddard radio astronomy experiment on the IMP-6 spacecraft. Previously, emission from the direction of Jupiter and Saturn had been observed by IMP-6 at a number of frequencies near 1 MHz and were identified through an analysis of the phase of the observed modulated signal detected from the spinning dipole antenna. This technique was applied to the direction of Uranus with possible positive results. Over the approximately 500 days of data, three to six bursts with unique spectral characteristics have been found. The events persisted less than 3 minutes and are strongest in intensity near 0.5 MHz. Identification with Uranus is confused by the likely presence of low-level terrestrial and solar emission. Because of the unfavorable angular separation of earth and Uranus, there is a possibility that the bursts are atypical terrestrial magnetospheric phenomena, although the uniqueness of the set of events indicates the probable detection of radiation from Uranus.

Brown, L. W.↗

Wide-band observations of LF hiss at Frobisher Bay /L = 14.6/

Temporal and spectral characteristics of LF hiss recorded at Frobisher Bay from October 30 to November 18, 1972 and from June 27, 1974 to June 26, 1975 using a wide-band (0-100 kHz) receiver are reported and discussed. The hiss occurs in bursts of about 1 to 30 min duration with a bandwidth of at least 30 kHz centered in the 20-30 kHz range. Its frequency may extend downward below 10 kHz with decreasing intensity and upward to 100 kHz with increasing intensity. There is a strong diurnal peak of occurrence centered on 21 hours LMT. Some events simultaneously recorded by a 30-MHz rapid response riometer directly follow LF hiss bursts. Apparently some electron precipitation events produce hiss bursts only, others produce hiss and then a riometer event as the precipitation flux hardens, and others, too hard to produce hiss, produce riometer events only. An examination of the present data together with previous results (Jorgensen et al., 1962; Laaspere et al., 1976) leads to the conclusion that the precipitating electrons causing ground-observed LF hiss are more energetic and have smaller pitch angles than most auroral hiss observed in the topside atmosphere with an electric dipole antenna.

Morgan, M. G.↗

VLF wave-wave interaction experiments in the magnetosphere

VLF wave-wave interaction experiments were carried out by injecting various forms of VLF pulses into the magnetosphere from a 21.2 km dipole antenna at Siple, Antarctica. The injected signals propagate along a geomagnetic field line and often interact strongly with energetic electrons trapped in the radiation belts near the equator. Signals may be amplified and trigger emissions. These signals may then interact with one another through these energetic electrons. This report is divided into three parts. In the first part, simulations of VLF pulses propagating in the magnetosphere are carried out. In the second part, it is found for the first time that a 10 ms gap in a triggering wave can induce emission, which may then interact with the post-gap signals. In the third part, sideband triggering is reported for the first time.

Chang, D. C. D.↗

High-resolution spectrograms of ion acoustic waves in the solar wind

High-resolution, frequency-time spectrograms of ion acoustic waves in the solar wind obtained by the Voyager spacecraft at distances of up to 1.7 AU are examined. The plasma wave instrument on board the Voyager spacecraft used to acquire the spectra employs an electric dipole antenna with a 16-channel step frequency receiver and a high-bit-rate waveform receiver to detect and measure the electric field of plasma waves. Voyager spectrograms show that the ion acoustic waves consist of narrowband, rapidly varying bursts, lasting a few seconds or less, usually in the range between the plasma ion and electron frequencies. Spectrograms taken at 1.7 AU are shown to be essentially identical to similar measurements taken upstream of the earth's magnetosphere, which are produced by suprathermal protons streaming into the solar wind from the bow shock, and to those taken upstream of interplanetary shocks.

Kurth, W. S.↗

Calculation and observation of thermal electrostatic noise in solar wind plasma

Calculations, both approximate algebraic and numerical, have been carried out for the noise due to electrostatic waves incident on a dipole antenna. The noise is calculated both for a thermal equilibrium plasma, and one having several components at different temperatures. The results are compared with measurements from the IMP-6 satellite. In various frequency ranges, the noise power is dominated by Langmuir oscillations, by electron acoustic waves and by ion acoustic waves. The measurements are consistent with all of these, although the ion waves are not definitely observed, due to interference from shot noise.

Kellogg, P. J.↗

The apparent spectral broadening of VLF transmitter signals during transionospheric propagation

ISIS 1 and 2 and ISEE 1 VLF/ELF electric field wave data indicate the existence of a novel phenomenon, in which initially narrow band upgoing signals from ground-based VLF transmitters undergo a significant spectral broadening as they propagate through the ionosphere and protonosphere, up to altitudes in the 600-3800 km range. For transmitter signals in the 10-20 kHz range, the spectral broadening can be as high as 10 percent of the input signal's nominal frequency. In many cases, the bandwidth of the spectrally broadened signals is a strong function of the electric dipole antenna orientation with respect to the local direction of the earth's magnetic field. The unusual dispersion in the components of the spectrally broadened pulses suggests that the spectral broadening may be due to a Doppler shift effect in which the initial signals scatter from irregularities in the F region and couple into quasi-electrostatic modes of short wave length.

Bell, T. F.↗

Scan blindness in infinite phased arrays of printed dipoles

A comprehensive study of infinite phased arrays of printed dipole antennas is presented, with emphasis on the scan blindness phenomenon. A rigorous and efficient moment method procedure is used to calculate the array impedance versus scan angle. Data are presented for the input reflection coefficient for various element spacings and substrate parameters. A simple theory, based on coupling from Floquet modes to surface wave modes on the substrate, is shown to predict the occurrence of scan blindness. Measurements from a waveguide simulator of a blindness condition confirm the theory.

Pozar, D. M.↗

The Helios radio astronomy experiment

Radio bursts traveling between the Sun and the Earth were tracked by radio astronomy experiments on Helios 1 and 2. A relatively short dipole antenna with a well-defined toroidal reception pattern was flown. The antenna spins in the ecliptic at 60.3 rpm and 2 frequencies are measured in each revolution. The signal analysis determines the strength of the signal, the direction of the source in the ecliptic, and the degree of modulation, and estimates source size. The experiments provide three-dimensional direction finding in space. They extend the radio frequency window beyond what is observable on Earth, and offer a long triangulation baseline.

Kayser, S.↗

DE-1 measurements of AKR wave directions

In addition to its wave rotation sense, the direction of auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) can also be measured with the plasma wave instrument on Dynamics Explorer 1, from the relative phase of the signals received by its orthogonal electric dipole antennas. By this method, which differs in principle from the previous spin-null method for measuring wave directions, it has been found possible to pinpoint the AKR source by triangulation, using measurements from different points along the DE-1 orbit. The resulting apparent source, in one instance, seemed to occupy a well-defined auroral-zone invariant magnetic latitude and showed the expected increase of altitude with decreasing frequency. An analysis of the method also confirmed the validity of the previous rotation sense measurements.

Calvert, W.↗