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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

ISEE-1 data reduction and analysis plasma composition experiment

The plasma composition experiment covers energies from OeV to 17 keV/e and has a mass-per-charge range from less than 1 to about 150 amu. Measurements were made from the inner ring current region to the plasma sheet, magnetotail lobes, and the magnetopause boundary layers and beyond. Possibly the most significant results from the experiment are those related to energetic (0+) ions of terrestrial origin. These ions are found in every region of the magnetosphere reached by the spacecraft and can have energy and pitch-angle distributions that are similar to those traditionally associated with protons of solar wind origin. The (0+) ions are commonly the most numerous ions in the 0.1 - 17 keV/e energy range and are often a substantial part of the ion population at large distances as well, especially during geomagnetically disturbed conditions. An overview of results obtained for the (0+) and other ions with energies in the 0.1 - 17 keV/e range in the magnetosphere is given.

Lennartsson, W.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Calibration of the ISEE plasma composition experiment

The Plasma Composition experiment on the ISEE-1 satellite was designed to measure ions from 1 to 16 amu, at energies from near zero to 16 keV. The two nearly identical flight instruments were calibrated by means of preflight laboratory tests and in-flight data comparisons. This document presents most of the details of those efforts, with special emphasis on the low energy (0 to 100 eV) portion of the instrument response. The analysis of the instrument includes a ray-tracing calculation, which follows an ensemble of test particles through the detector.

Baugher, C. R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Identification of Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections at 1 AU Using Multiple Solar Wind Plasma Composition Anomalies

We investigate the use of multiple simultaneous solar wind plasma compositional anomalies, relative to the composition of the ambient solar wind, for identifying interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) plasma. We first summarize the characteristics of several solar wind plasma composition signatures (O(+7)/O(+6), Mg/O, Ne/O, Fe charge states, He/p) observed by the ACE and WIND spacecraft within the ICMEs during 1996 - 2002 identsed by Cane and Richardson. We then develop a set of simple criteria that may be used to identify such compositional anomalies, and hence potential ICMEs. To distinguish these anomalies from the normal variations seen in ambient solar wind composition, which depend on the wind speed, we compare observed compositional signatures with those 'expected' in ambient solar wind with the same solar wind speed. This method identifies anomalies more effectively than the use of fixed thresholds. The occurrence rates of individual composition anomalies within ICMEs range from approx. 70% for enhanced iron and oxygen charge states to approx. 30% for enhanced He/p (> 0.06) and Ne/O, and are generally higher in magnetic clouds than other ICMEs. Intervals of multiple anomalies are usually associated with ICMEs, and provide a basis for the identification of the majority of ICMEs. We estimate that Cane and Richardson, who did not refer to composition data, probably identitied approx. 90% of the ICMEs present. However, around 10% of their ICMEs have weak compositional anomalies, suggesting that the presence of such signatures does not provide a necessary requirement for an ICME. We note a remarkably similar correlation between the Mg/O and O(7)/O(6) ratios in hourly-averaged data both within ICMEs and the ambient solar wind. This 'universal' relationship suggests that a similar process (such as minor ion heating by waves inside coronal magnetic field loops) produces the first-ionization potential bias and ion freezing-in temperatures in the source regions of both ICMEs and the ambient solar wind.

Richardson, I. G.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The AMPTE/CCE Hot-Plasma Composition Experiment (HPCE)

The Hot-Plasma Composition Experiment (HPCE) on the AMPTE-CCE spacecraft consists of an energetic ions-mass spectrometer and an electron background-environment monitor (EBEM). The mass spectrometer covers the entire mass per charge range from below 1 to greater than 150 amu/e and the energy per charge range from 0 eV/e (spacecraft potential) to 17 keV/e. The EBEM measures electrons between 50 eV and 25 keV in eight broad energy bands. The ion and electron data are processed into color spectrogram formats for the data pool.

Shelley, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Restoration and Archiving of Data from the Plasma Composition Experiment on the International Sun-Earth Explorer One (ISEE 1)

The objective of this project has been to complete the archiving of energetic (10 eV/epsilon - 18 keV/epsilon) ion composition data from the Lockheed Plasma Composition Experiment on the International Sun-Earth Explorer One (ISEE 1) satellite, using a particular data format that had previously been approved by NASA and the NSSDC. That same format, a combination of ion velocity moments and differential flux spectra, had been used in 1991 to archive, at the NSSDC, the first 28 months (the "Prime" period of ISEE investigations) of data from the Lockheed instrument under NASA Contract NAS5-33047. With the completion of this project, the almost 4 1/2-year time span of these unique data is now covered by a very compact set, approximately 1 gigabyte in total, of electronic files with physical quantities, all in ASCII. The files are organized by data type and time of data acquisition, in Universal Time, and named according to year and day of year. Each calendar day has five separate files (five types of data), the lengths of which vary from day to day, depending on the instrument mode of operation. The data format and file structure are described in detail in appendices 1 and 2. The physical medium consists of high-density (6250 cpi) 9-track magnetic tapes, complemented by a set of hardcopy line plots of certain plasma parameters. In this case there are five tapes, to be added to the six previous ones from 1991, and 25 booklets of plots, one per month, to be added to the previous 28. The tapes, including an extra standard-density (1600 cpi) tape with electronic versions of the Data User's Guide and self-guiding VAX/VMS command files, and the hardcopy plots are being boxed for shipment to the NSSDC.

Lennartsson, O. W.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Review of hot plasma composition near geosynchronous altitude

The information available on the hot plasma composition at and near the geostationary satellite orbit has increased dramatically during the past four years. At energies below 32 keV, ions of terrestrial origin, 0(+) and He(+) are frequently observed to be significant contributors to the hot plasma density and energy density, and during geomagnetically disturbed periods, 0(+) ions are typically the dominant hot plasma ions. Evidence for a solar cycle dependence to the 0(+) hot plasma densities at the geostationary orbit has been found. Our understanding of the details of the physical processes involved in the entry, acceleration, transport, and loss of the plasma ions, and thus our ability to model them, is still quite limited.

Johnson, R. G.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Analysis of data from the plasma composition experiment on the International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE 1)

The Lockheed plasma composition experiment on the ISEE 1 spacecraft has provided one of the largest and most varied sets of data on earth's energetic plasma environment, covering both the solar wind, well beyond the bow shock, and the near equatorial magnetosphere to a distance of almost 23 earth radii. This report is an overview of the last four years of data analysis and archiving. The archiving for NSSDC includes most data obtained during the initial 28-months of instrument operation, from early November 1977 through the end of February 1980. The data products are a combination of spectra (mass and energy angle) and velocity moments. A copy of the data user's guide and examples of the data products are attached as appendix A. The data analysis covers three major areas: solar wind ions upstream and downstream of the day side bowshock, especially He(++) ions; terrestrial ions flowing upward from the auroral regions, especially H(+), O(+), and He(+) ions; and ions of both solar and terrestrial origins in the tail plasma sheet and lobe regions. Copies of publications are attached.

Lennartsson, O. W.↗
NASA NTRS1985

AMPTE/CCE observations of the plasma composition below 17 keV during the September 4, 1984 magnetic storm

Observations from the Hot Plasma Composition Experiment on the AMPTE/CCE spacecraft during the magnetic storm of 4-5 September 1984 reveal that significant injection of ions of terrestrial origin accompanied the storm development. The compression of the magnetosphere at storm sudden commencement carried the magnetopause inside the CCE orbit clearly revealing the shocked solar wind plasma. A build up of suprathermal ions is observed near the plasmapause during the storm main phase and recovery phase. Pitch angle distributions in the ring current during the main phase show differences between H(+) and O(+) that suggest mass dependent injection, transport and/or loss processes.

Shelley, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Achievements of the plasma composition experiment on ISEE-1 during the IMS

The ISEE-1 spacecraft measured energetic ion composition over a wide radial range in the near-equatorial magnetosphere, from close to the Earth to a distance of 23 RE. The Plasma Composition Experiment covers energies from 0 eV/e to 17 keV/e. Results for energetic O+ ions of terrestrial origin show that these ions are found in every region of the magnetosphere reached by the spacecraft and can have energy and pitch-angle distributions very similar to those of H+ ions. The O+ ions are the most numerous ions in the 0.1 to 17 keV/e energy range at L 5 and are often a substantial part of the ion population at larger distances as well, especially during geomagnetically disturbed conditions.

Lennartsson, W.↗
NASA NTRS1980

SCATHA observations of space plasma composition during a spacecraft charging event

During an Earth eclipse of the SCATHA spacecraft, the spacecraft charged to potentials greater than 1KV for about 30 minutes with extended excursions greater than 4KV. The composition of the hot plasma was obtained in the 0.1 to 32 keV energy range with an ion mass spectrometer aboard the spacecraft. Prior to the onset of the charging event, H(+) was the principal plasma ion, and during the event O(+) was the principal ion. The composition was energy dependent and varied significantly on a time scale of 4 minutes. An assumption that the ion flux was all H(+) led to computed number densities that were in error by more than a factor of two for several time intervals during the event.

Johnson, R. G.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Plasma composition in Jupiter's magnetosphere - Initial results from the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer

The ion composition in the Jovian environment was investigated with the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer on board Ulysses. A hot tenuous plasma was observed throughout the outer and middle magnetosphere. In some regions two thermally different components were identified. Oxygen and sulfur ions with several different charge states, from the volcanic satellite Io, make the largest contribution to the mass density of the hot plasma, even at high latitude. Solar wind particles were observed in all regions investigated. Ions from Jupiter's ionosphere were abundant in the middle magnetosphere, particularly in the high-latitude region on the dusk side, which was traversed for the first time.

Geiss, J.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Advanced techniques for plasma composition and dynamics measurements

The current state of knowledge regarding the space plasma is briefly considered. It is found that certain problems arise in connection with conventional measurements. In many cases, three-dimensional measurements are needed and a good time resolution. The present investigation has the objective to review developments related to energetic ion mass spectrometers which are capable of resolving some of the ambiguities. The employment of electrostatic analyzers (ESA) combined with velocity filters is considered, taking into account an instrument which combines a quadrispherical electrostatic analyzer with electromagnetic filters. Such an instrument is being developed for the Galileo Mission to Jupiter. In connection with an evaluation of developments concerning linear and two-dimensional mass spectrometers, attention is given to instruments which are capable of measuring several masses simultaneously. Instruments utilizing the time of flight technique of measuring mass are also examined.

Goldstein, R.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Inverse rendering of fusion plasmas: Inferring plasma composition from imaging systems

In this work, we develop a differentiable rendering pipeline for visualising plasma emission within tokamaks, and estimating the gradients of the emission and estimating other physical quantities. Unlike prior work, we are able to leverage arbitrary representations of plasma quantities and easily incorporate them into a non-linear optimisation framework. The efficiency of our method enables not only estimation of a physically plausible image of plasma, but also recovery of the neutral Deuterium distribution from imaging and midplane measurements alone. We demonstrate our method with three different levels of complexity showing first that a poloidal neutrals density distribution can be recovered from imaging alone, second that the distributions of neutral Deuterium, electron density and electron temperature can be recovered jointly, and finally, that this can be done in the presence of realistic imaging systems that incorporate sensor cropping and quantisation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1983

Hot plasma composition results from the ISEE-1 spacecraft

The International Sun Earth Explorer (ISEE-1) was launched on Oct. 22, 1977 into a geocentric elliptical orbit. The energetic ion mass spectrometer on the satellite is employed in a study of the plasmas encountered by ISEE-1 in its orbits. The experiment is operating successfully and research is progressing in a number of areas. A review in the nature of a progress report on the energetic magnetospheric plasma results is provided. Attention is given to the plasma sheet and ion streams in the magnetotail, the inner magnetosphere, and magnetospheric boundary regions.

Sharp, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Observations of low-energy plasma composition from the ISEE-1 and SCATHA satellites

This brief review is concerned with some of the initial measurements of low-energy ion properties conducted with the aid of ion composition detectors aboard the ISEE-1 and SCATHA satellites. ISEE-1 was launched in October 1977 into a highly elliptical orbit, while SCATHA was launched in January 1979 into a near geosynchronous orbit. Attention is given to the origin of low-energy plasma, the energization of ionospheric ions, the transport of ionospheric ions, and the loss of low-energy plasma from the magnetosphere. According to results obtained during the past several years, including the present ISEE-1 and SCATHA results, there are significant, and occasionally dominant, concentrations of He(+) and O(+) in various locations within the magnetosphere.

Horwitz, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Initial observations of thermal plasma composition and energetics from Dynamics Explorer-1

Initial measurements of thermal ions (0 to 50 eV) at mid-latitudes by the Retarding Ion Mass Spectrometer (RIMS) on DE-1 are presented. These measurements show the plasmapause signature in H(+), He(+), and m/q = 2 ions, an enhancement or torus of O(+) and O(++) in the outer plasmasphere and the suggestion of a disconnection between the ionosphere and the bulge region of the plasmasphere.

Chappell, C. R.↗