Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Mcclure, J. P..
Research is reported concerning the ionospheric F-region irregularities. The results are based on in-situ OGO-6 measurements of the total ion concentration N sub i. A proposed mechanism for the generation of equatorial F-region irregularities and the morphological results, and the occurrence of Fe(+) ions in the equatorial F-region are discussed. Related research papers are included.
It is suggested that convective electric fields in the equatorial ionosphere are generated by neutral winds (zonal or meridional) which act on regions having structure in their field aligned Pedersen conductivity integrals. The conductivity structure is presumably caused by long-lived metallic ions concentrated irregularly below the F layer at altitudes where their collision and gyrofrequencies are comparable. The resulting plasma convection leads to large-scale irregularities and sets up gradients in the electric field that drive other instability mechanisms to produce small-scale irregularities. The mechanism proposed requires a different velocity above and below 200 km for winds in the magnetic east-west direction, but for winds in the magnetic meridian direction, an altitude gradient is not required.
Langmuir probe and retarding potential analyzer (RPA) data on the electron and ion temperatures Te and Ti obtained from Ogo 6 are compared with Te and Ti values obtained from the incoherent scatter network. The satellite to radar temperature ratio TeS/TeR is 1.15 on the average for these comparisons. This discrepancy is larger than the uncertainties usually placed on the probe and radar Te values. The ion temperature ratio TiS/TiR approximately 1.0, independent of the particular radar examined. This comparison serves as an intercalibration of the incoherent scatter network.
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Geomagnetic equatorial ionospheric ion temperature, comparing incoherent scatter radar and OGO-D retarding potential analyzer values
Radar based values of neutral night exospheric temperature, discussing dominant effect of annual variation
VHF radar measurements of scattering by field aligned irregularities associated with equatorial spread F
Simultaneous Thomson scatter measurements for middle and low latitudes, comparing electron density and temperature and exospheric and global temperature distributions
Diurnal variations of neutral and charged particle temperatures in equatorial F region
Langmuir probe experiment measurement of upper region electron temperature on Explorer 32 conflict with Jicamarca Radar Observatory measurements
Equatorial ionosphere charged particle composition and ion and electron temperatures using incoherent scattering autocorrelation function