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At least 1,099 records · Page 61

Magnetospheric convection and the high-latitude F2 ionosphere

Behavior of the polar ionospheric F layer as it is convected through the cleft, over the polar cap, and through the nightside F layer trough zone is investigated. Passage through the cleft adds approximately 200,000 ions per cu cm in the vicinity of the F2 peak and redistributes the ionization above approximately 400-km altitude to conform with an increased electron temperature. The redistribution of ionization above 400-km altitude forms the 'averaged' plasma ring seen at 1000-km altitude. The F layer is also raised by approximately 20 km in altitude by the convection electric field. The time required for passage across the polar cap (25 deg) is about the same as that required for the F layer peak concentration to decay by e. The F layer response to passage through the nightside soft electron precipitation zone should be similar to but less than its response to passage through the cleft.

Knudsen, W. C.↗

Limb darkening of two latitudes of Jupiter at phase angles of 34 and 109 deg

The imaging photopolarimeter aboard Pioneer 10 produced hundreds of red and blue images of Jupiter covering a wide range of phase angles and having good linearity and signal-to-noise characteristics. In this preliminary analysis the limb darkening across two of the red images (at phase angles of about 34 and 109 deg) in both a prominent dark belt and a bright zone are compared with multiple-scattering models. Of the simple models tried, the smallest deviations from the observations result for ones consisting of a thin absorbing layer above a semiinfinite atmosphere of particles scattering according to the Henyey-Greenstein phase function. The asymmetry parameter for the best fits to both the belt and the zone data is in the range g = 0 to 0.25, corresponding to particles small in comparison with the wavelength of red light. The phase integral derived from the models lies in the range of about 1.5 to 1.6, implying a substantial internal heat source for Jupiter.

Tomasko, M. G.↗

Observations of Birkeland currents at auroral latitudes

After many years of languishing interest, field-aligned currents (Birkeland currents) are now regarded as an important link between the magnetosphere and the ionosphere. We describe techniques that are used to measure them and then discuss in some detail measurements that have been interpreted as indicating the presence of Birkeland currents. We conclude that measurements substantiate the theory of large-scale flow from the magnetosphere to the polar caps in a dawn-dusk direction with opposite flow equatorward of the auroral zone connecting to the Alfven layer. Sheet current flow in premidnight discrete aurora seems experimentally established also, but its connection with auroral acceleration and with the larger-scale flow is not yet understood. The currents flowing during a substorm are not yet fully defined either.

Anderson, H. R.↗

Certain regularities of geomagnetic and Baric fields at high latitudes

The existence of a relation between the variations of magnetic field at earth's surface in near-pole regions and the sector structure of the interplanetary magnetic field is considered as the evidence of the influence of the solar wind with its magnetic field on the processes proceeding in the magnetosphere. Two peculiarities between geomagnetic and interplanetary fields are discussed in detail: the north-south and spring-autumn asymmetry.

Mansurov, S. M.↗

Coronal propagation: Variations with solar longitude and latitude

Observational results on the East-West effect are summarized and discussed in the context of existing models of coronal propagation. The variation of the number of events with solar longitude is shown to be surprisingly similar for particles covering a large interval of rigidities. Also, over large longitudinal distances, time delays to the event onset and maximum intensity are independent of energy and velocity. This has important implications and will require probably a transport process which is determined by fundamental properties of solar magnetic fields, e.g. reconnection processes between open and closed field configurations. The relative role of open and closed field configurations is extensively discussed. Some evidence is presented that the acceleration of protons to higher (approximately 10 MeV) energies is related with a shock wave traveling in the solar atmosphere. The importance of measurements performed from spacecraft out-of-the-ecliptic plane is stressed.

Wibberenz, G.↗

Model predictions of latitude-dependent ozone depletion due to aerospace vehicle operations

Results are presented from a two-dimensional model of the stratosphere that simulates the seasonal movement of ozone by both wind and eddy transport, and contains all the chemistry known to be important. The calculated reductions in ozone due to NO2 injection from a fleet of supersonic transports are compared with the zonally averaged results of a three-dimensional model for a similar episode of injection. The agreement is good in the northern hemisphere, but is not as good in the southern hemisphere. Both sets of calculations show a strong corridor effect in that the predicted ozone depletions are largest to the north of the flight corridor for aircraft operating in the northern hemisphere.

Borucki, W. J.↗

Metastable 2D atomic nitrogen in the mid-latitude nocturnal ionosphere

The only source at night at midlatitudes of N(2D) in the F region is the dissociative recombination of the positive NO ion, and the only important sinks are quenching by atomic oxygen and electrons. Ground-based measurements of the 5200 angstrom emission line resulting from the transition from N(2D) to N(4S) combined with satellite observations of neutral and ion densities and temperatures and the shape of the 5200 angstrom profile are used to relate the rate of quenching by atomic oxygen and the efficiency of production of N(2D) to the rate of quenching by electrons. A rate of quenching by atomic oxygen of 1.5-2.5 x 10 to the minus 12th cu cm/s and an efficiency of (0.8-1.0) plus or minus 30% for the production of N(2D) are obtained.

Torr, M. R.↗