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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

The ionospheric signatures of flux transfer events and solar wind dynamic pressure changes

Recent observations of vortical flow patterns in the dayside auroral ionosphere are discussed in terms of two alternative mechanisms: (1) the time-dependent magnetic reconnection in 'flux transfer events' (FTEs); and (2) the action of solar wind dynamic pressure changes at the magnetopause. It is argued that the ionospheric flow signature of an FTE should be a twin vortex, with the mean flow velocity in the central region of the pattern being equal to the velocity of the pattern as a whole. On the other hand, the pulse of enhanced or reduced dynamic pressure is also expected to produce a twin vortex, but with the central plasma flow being generally different in speed from (and almost orthogonal to) the motion of the whole pattern. It is found that, while none of the events discussed here are consistent with the theories of the effects of the dynamic pressure changes, all are well explained in terms of the ionospheric signatures of FTEs.

Lockwood, M.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Flux transfer events at the magnetopause and in the ionosphere

Observations of the flux transfer events (FTEs) made by the ISEE 2 spacecraft at the dayside magnetopause and simultaneous EISCAT observations of ionospheric flow bursts and Ny Alesund observations of dayside auroral breakup events near the ISEE field line footpoints are presented. The simultaneous observations took place on December 1, 1986. EISCAT radar recorded ionospheric flow bursts of up to 1 km/s and the peak of each burst followed an FTE observation at ISEE by a few minutes. Bursts were comprised of a westward and then poleward flow and each burst was recorded to have lasted ten or fifteen minutes. Dayside auroral breakup forms were observed by the all sky camera at Ny Alesund during or shortly after the flow bursts and moving westward and then poleward. It is noted that this is the first observation of a direct link between FTEs at the magnetopause and flowbursts and associated dayside auroral forms.

Elphic, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Cosmic-ray gradient measurements and modulation beyond the inner solar wind termination shock

Data provided by the IMP, Voyager, and Pioneer spacecraft for the cosmic-ray particles with E greater than 60 MeV show the existence of integral radial cosmic-ray-density gradients which were nearly constant from 1977 to 1982. In this paper, these measurements are explained using a model in which significant modulation occurs in the turbulent shocked plasma flow between the inner solar wind termination and the outer contact discontinuity separating the interstellar medium flow from the heliospheric plasma.

Quenby, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The brightness, albedo, and temporal variability of Neptune

Sine 1972, the brightness of Neptune at 4720 and 5510 A has slowly varied with an amplitude of 4 percent, apparently anticorrelated with cyclic solar activity. In addition, there is a secular trend towards redder color. The night-to-night variation of brightness tends to be greater in seasons when the planet is relatively bright. From annual spectrophotometric observations at 8 A resolution, 3295-8880 A, the geometrical albedo spectrum was computed for 1982, when the planet was relatively faint, and for 1987, when it was relatively bright. The two spectra do not differ substantially from each other, but yield a significantly higher albedo in the ultraviolet compared with the values published by Neff et al. based on 1981 observations and a different solar irradiance spectrum.

Lockwood, G. W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Precise automatic differential stellar photometry

The factors limiting the precision of differential stellar photometry are reviewed. Errors due to variable atmospheric extinction can be reduced to below 0.001 mag at good sites by utilizing the speed of robotic telescopes. Existing photometric systems produce aliasing errors, which are several millimagnitudes in general but may be reduced to about a millimagnitude in special circumstances. Conventional differential photometry neglects several other important effects, which are discussed in detail. If all of these are properly handled, it appears possible to do differential photometry of variable stars with an overall precision of 0.001 mag with ground based robotic telescopes.

Young, Andrew T.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Europa's phase curve - Implications for surface structure

The surface of the Jovian satellite Europa is characterized on the basis of an analysis of ground photoelectric photometry at 470 and 550 nm and Voyager images. The data are presented in extensive tables and graphs and discussed in detail. At 550 nm, Europa has single-scattering albedo 0.964, opposition-effect amplitude 0.5, opposition-effect width 0.0016, double-lobed Henyey-Greenstein factors b = -0.429 and c = 0.113, and mean roughness angle 10 deg (much lower than on other solar-system objects). From the small roughness and the 96-percent porosity implied by the narrow opposition peak, it is concluded that the surface was formed mainly by endogenic processes. It is also noted that only one of three observational criteria for preferential ion bombardment of the trailing hemisphere are met in Europa.

Domingue, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Neptune's cloud structure in 1989 - Photometric variations and correlation with ground-based images

Ground-based photoelectric photometry in b, y, and the 6190 and 7250 A methane-bands, as well as spectrum scans of the methane 6190 A band and CCD images at 6190 and 8900 A, were obtained for Neptune during Voyager 2's approach of that planet on August 24, 1989. Photometric variations are presently correlated with the disk transit of bright planetary features, and the changes in feature distribution and brightness noted in the results are evaluated for implications bearing on long-term variability. It is suggested that the long-term secular variation is related to a slow change in a size of location of both the bright companion and the Great Dark Spot.

Lockwood, G. W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

An observation of a heliospheric magnetic cycle dependence for the integral radial gradient of E above 60 MeV cosmic rays

The dependence of the integral radial gradient of the cosmic radiation upon the cosmic ray intensity level and heliocentric radial distance is investigated. The magnitude of the integral radial gradient (IRG) from 1982-1990, during a period of negative polarity, is a strong function of the cosmic ray intensity changing from about 1.5 percent/AU at the time of the peak intensity in 1987 to about 3 percent/AU at times of minimum intensity in 1982 and 1990. In the early period studied from 1977 to 1982, during a period of positive polarity, practically no dependence of the magnitude of the IRG on the cosmic ray intensity was found. The gradient remained at about 3 percent/AU during the entire period. It is argued that these specific changes in the behavior of the gradient in opposite polarity cycles are not predicted by either the drift-wavy current sheet or simple diffusion-convection models of the solar modulation. The results are discussed in the context of the present understanding of the causes of the asymmetry in the 11-year modulation cycles.

Webber, W. R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Data analysis of the COMPTEL instrument on the NASA gamma ray observatory

The Compton imaging telescope (COMPTEL) on the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) is a wide field of view instrument. The coincidence measurement technique in two scintillation detector layers requires specific analysis methods. Straightforward event projection into the sky is impossible. Therefore, detector events are analyzed in a multi-dimensional dataspace using a gamma ray sky hypothesis convolved with the point spread function of the instrument in this dataspace. Background suppression and analysis techniques have important implications on the gamma ray source results for this background limited telescope. The COMPTEL collaboration applies a software system of analysis utilities, organized around a database management system. The use of this system for the assistance of guest investigators at the various collaboration sites and external sites is foreseen and allows different detail levels of cooperation with the COMPTEL institutes, dependent on the type of data to be studied.

Diehl, R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The ionospheric signature of flux transfer events

The effects at ionospheric heights which take place when transient reconnection events (i.e., Flux Tranfer Events (FTEs)) occur at the dayside magnetopause are considered. The nature of the FTE related ionospheric flows, the associated current systems, and the plasma precipitation, are discussed. In particular, the nature of the time dependent cusp precipitation which occurs on this case is outlined and expectations are compared with those based on steady magnetopause reconnection.

Cowley, S. W. H.↗
NASA NTRS1990

DE-2 observations of filamentary currents at ionospheric altitudes

Conjunctive measurements made by the Dynamics Explorer 1 and 2 spacecraft on October 22, 1981, under conditions of southward IMF, suggest the existence of a cusp ion injection from a region at the magnetopause with a scale size of about 1/2 to 1 earth radii. Current signatures observed by the LAPI and MAGB instruments on board DE-2 indicate the existence of a rotation in the magnetic field that is consistent with a filamentary current system. The observed current structure can be interpreted as the ionospheric signature of a flux transfer event (FTE). In addition to this large-scale current structure there exist three small-scale filamentary current pairs. These current pairs close locally and thus, if the present interpretation of this event as an FTE is correct, represent the first reported observations of FTE interior structure at low-altitudes.

Smith, M. F.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A new solar irradiance calibration from 3295 A to 8500 A derived from absolute spectrophotometry of Vega

By imaging sunlight diffracted by 20- and 30-micron diameter pinholes onto the entrance aperture of a photoelectric grating scanner, the solar spectral irradiance was determined relative to the spectrophotometric standard star Vega, observed at night with the same instrument. Solar irradiances are tabulated at 4 A increments from 3295 A to 8500 A. Over most of the visible spectrum, the internal error of measurement is less than 2 percent. This calibration is compared with earlier irradiance measurements by Neckel and Labs (1984) and by Arvesen et al. (1969) and with the high-resolution solar atlas by Kurucz et al. The three calibrations agree well in visible light but differ by as much as 10 percent in the ultraviolet.

Lockwood, G. W.↗
NASA NTRS1992

On the interplanetary cosmic ray latitudinal gradient

Results are presented from measurements, from 1983 to 1990, of the temporal history of the latitudinal and radial gradients of cosmic ray particles with E greater than 70-MeV. The data used include measurements obtained by the Voyager 2 and Pioneer 10 spacecraft near the heliographic equatorial plane, and from Pioneer 11 and Voyager 1 at average latitudes of 16 deg and 30 deg, respectively. Using the data from Pioneer 11 and Voyager 1 at different altitudes, the altitude dependence of the 26-day-average differential cosmic ray latitudinal gradient was deduced. The gradient was found to be a strong function of latitude when the tilt angle approached zero and became essentially independent of latitude for tilt angles above 30 deg. The relationship between the latitudinal and radial gradients was used to estimate the perpendicular diffusion coefficient for E greater than 7-MeV particles.

Lockwood, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The variation of reconnection rate at the dayside magnetopause and cusp ion precipitation

A method is presented which allows estimation of the variation of the rate of magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. This is achieved using observations of the cusp particle precipitation made by low-altitude polar-orbiting spacecraft. In this paper we apply the technique to a previously published example of a cusp intersection by the DMSP F7 satellite. It is shown that the cusp signature in this case was produced by three separate bursts of reconnection which were of the order of 10 min apart, each lasting roughly 1 min. This is similar to the variation of reconnection rate which is required to explain typical flux transfer event signatures at the magnetopause.

Lockwood, M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The statistical cusp - A flux transfer event model

In this paper, we predict the precipitation signatures which are associated with transient magnetopause reconnection, following recent observations of the dependence of dayside ionospheric convection on the orientation of the IMF. We then employ a simple model of the longitudinal motion of flux-transfer-event signatures to show how such events can easily reproduce the local time distribution of cusp occurrence probabilities, as observed by low-altitude satellites. This is true even in the limit where the cusp is a series of discrete events. Furthermore, we investigate the existence of double cusp patches predicted by the simple model and show how these events may be identified in the data.

Smith, M. F.↗
NASA NTRS1992

An atmospheric outburst on Neptune from 1986 through 1989

Visual photometry and methane-band imaging indicate that Neptune underwent a period of atmospheric activity in the 1986-1989 period with an enhancement of 8900 A CH4-band brightness and an increased standard deviation of the mean yearly magnitudes at visual and near-IR wavelengths. These observations are presently interpreted as due to a localized upwelling source that could be similar to the 'great white spots' that have been periodically observed on Saturn.

Hammel, H. B.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Dayside ionospheric convection changes in response to long-period interplanetary magnetic field oscillations - Determination of the ionospheric phase velocity

Ground magnetic field perturbations recorded by the CANOPUS magnetometer network in the 7 to 13 MLT sector are used to examine how reconfigurations of the dayside polar ionospheric flow take place in response to north-south changes of the IMF. During the 6-h interval in question, IMF Bz oscillates between +/- 7 nT with about a 1-h period. Corresponding variations in the ground magnetic disturbance are observed which we infer are due to changes in ionospheric flow. Cross correlation of the data obtained from two ground stations at 73.5 deg magnetic latitude, but separated by about 2 hours in MLT, shows that changes in the flow are initiated in the prenoon sector (about 10 MLT) and then spread outward toward dawn and dusk with a phase speed of about 5 km/s over the longitude range about 8 to 12 MLT, slowing to about 2 km/s outside this range. Cross correlating the data from these ground stations with IMP 8 IMF Bz records produces a MLT variation in the ground response delay relative to the IMF which is compatible with these deduced phase speeds.

Saunders, M. A.↗