Anomalous resistivity in the geomagnetic tail region

The beam cyclotron instability and electron acoustic instability, driven by cross-tail current and inhomogeneity in density and magnetic field, are found to be unstable in the earth's magnetic tail region. The anomalous resistivities due to these instabilities are found to be of the order of $\text{(10}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}\text{?10}{}^{\mathrm{?3}}\text{)Ω}{}_{\mathrm{e}}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$ (Ω_e being the electron gyro frequency). It is also suggested that the non-linear saturation of the beam cyclotron instability may lead to conditions favourable for exciting ion acoustic instability.     

Thinning of the near-earth (10∼15 RE) plasma sheet preceding the substorm expansion phase

The timing of the plasma-sheet thinning relative to the onset of the expansion phase of substorms is examined by the analysis of the OGO 5 electron (79 ± 23 keV) and proton (100～150 keV) data with the aid of simultaneous magnetic field observations. It is found that the timing of the thinning is significantly dependent on the distance. At $\text{x}{}^2\text{+ y}{}^2\text{? 15 R}{}_{\mathrm{E}}$ the thinning often starts before the onset, while at $\text{x}{}^2\text{+ y}{}^2\text{? 15 R}{}_{\mathrm{E}}$ it tends to occur after the onset, where x and y refer to solar magnetospheric coordinates. The thinning that precedes the expansion-phase onset has been found to reduce the thickness to ～1 R_E, and further thinning may occur in a spatially limited region. Hence it is conceivable that the formation of the neutral line characterizing the substorm expansion phase is the consequence of the thinning of the plasma sheet in the near-Earth region.     

Io's interaction with the magnetosphere

Jupiter's innermost Galilean satellite Io is regarded as a fairly good conductor ($\text{σ > 10}{}^{\mathrm{?5}}\text{Ω}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}\text{m}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$). The trapping of magnetic field lines by Io and their deformation is described. A neutral point forms in the vicinity of the satellite. The magnetic field annihilation in the neutral point is enhanced by the emission of low frequency hmd waves. The power carried away by these waves may be as high 10¹⁵ W. The characteristic frequency of the wave and its variation while Io orbits around Jupiter is determined.     

Effects of crossed magnetic and (spatially dependent) electric fields on charged particle motion

The motion of charged particles is examined in the case of a homogeneous magnetic field B together with an orthogonal electric field E, which has a gradient ▽E parallel to E. If

$\text{B}{}^2\text{q}{}^2\text{m}{}^2\text{?}\text{q▽E}\text{m}\text{> 0}$

, the particles drift at right angles to E and B with a modified gyrofrequency and produce a current in that direction. If

$\text{B}{}^2\text{q}{}^2\text{m}{}^2\text{?}\text{q▽E}\text{m}\text{< 0}$

, the particles not only drift in the direction of E × B but are also accelerated in the direction of E, in which direction they also produce a current.     

A possible mechanism of formation of faculae

We propose a new heating mechanism of faculae. We think that the formation of faculae is a result of the Joule dissipation of the Hall current generated by the interaction of the convection field of granules in an active region and the inter-granular magnetic field. For a region to generate effectively Hall current, its characteristic length must be such that the magnetic Reynolds number is less than 1. The equation of energy balance in the facula region is

$\text{16σT}{}^3{}_{\mathrm{p}}\text{(T}{}_{\mathrm{l}}\text{? T}{}_{\mathrm{p}}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{n}}\text{HP}{}_{\mathrm{s}}{}^{\mathrm{a}}\text{H}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{=}\text{Qn}{}_{\mathrm{s}}\text{m}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{u}{}_{\mathrm{x}}{}^2\text{(τ}{}^2{}_{\mathrm{in}}\text{ω}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{)}$

.For five observational models of faculae, we calculated the corresponding velocity fields, and the results are in basic agreement with the observed fields. The present mechanism explains the dependence of the facula brightness on the magnetic and velocity fields, the apparent distribution of the faculae on the solar disk and suggest a possible interpretation of the five structures of faculae.     

Spatial structure of solar wind at a time of minimum solar activity

Interplanetary scintillation measurements of the solar wind speed in 1976 show the expected trend that higher speeds are found at higher heliographic latitudes or larger angular distances from the interplanetary current sheet deduced from coronal observations. A careful examination of variations in the speed where the current sheet departs from the equator reveals that the wind speed is not symmetrically distributed about the equator, and the minimum speed occurs at the current sheet. The variation of the speed u with the angular distance from the current sheet, λ, during 1976 is

$\text{u(λ) = 800}\text{sin}{}^{\mathrm{?2\lambda }}\text{+ 350}\text{km/s}\text{,|λ| ?35° = 600}\text{km/s}\text{, |λ| > 35°}$

.     

The influence of a flow field on the stability of the force-free magnetic field

In order to analyse the convective instability of the force-free magnetic field, an exact solution of the MHD equation for the magnetic field (1) together with the flow field (2) of constant speed V₀ making an angle θ with the magnetic field, was chosen as the unperturbed state. The stability of the fields between two parallel conducting walls of seperation d was studied by a linear perturbation method, which led to the eigenvalue problem (12), X being given by (13). It was shown by an approximate variational method that instability will set in by the flow field if V₀ is greater than 1/ $\text{3}$ times Alfven velocity V_A. For , the stability of the force-free field (1) is not influenced by the flow field, which may still be significant in other respects. Perturbations transverse to the magnetic field were found to be the most unstable modes.     

Temperature variation of the plasma sheet during substorms

The temperature and density of the plasma in the Earth's distant plasma sheet at the downstream distances of about 20–25 R_e are examined during a high geomagnetic disturbance period. It is shown that the plasma sheet cools when magnetospheric substorm expansion is indicated by the AE index. During cooling, the plasma sheet temperature, T, and the number density, N, are related by $\text{T ∝ N}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>2</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}$ (adiabatic process) in some instances, while by T ∝ N^?1 (isobaric process) in other cases. The total plasma and magnetic pressure decreases when $\text{T ∝ N}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>2</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}$ and increases when T ∝ N^?1. Observation also indicates that the dawn-dusk component of plasma flow is frequently large and comparable to the sunward-tailward flow component near the central plasma sheet during substorms.     

Comment on the group velocity of surface waves on the plasma sheet boundary

In the recent estimation by Maltsev and Lyatsky (1984) of the group velocity of surface waves on the inner boundary of the plasma sheet, the effect of the curvature of the field lines of the ambient magnetic field of the Earth on the spectrum has been assessed. The authors have not accounted for the fact, however, that the group velocity of the compressional surface magnetohydrodynamic waves itself is nonzero transverse to the magnetic field—a characteristic which has been omitted in the spectrum of Chen and Hasegawa (1974), being used by Maltsev and Lyatsky.This characteristic of compressional surface MHD waves is inherent for the spectrum $\text{ω = (}\text{k}{}_6\text{k}\text{)V}{}_{\mathrm{A}}\text{(k}{}^2{}_6\text{+ 2k}{}^2{}_{\mathrm{\perp }}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$, obtained by Nenovski (1978) in the cold plasma limit V_A ? V_S(V_A is Alfvén velocity, and V_S, sound velocity). A comment has been made on the restrictions, proceeding from the approximation, used by Maltsev and Lyatsky. The estimation of the velocities for movements of auroral riometer absorption bays have been reviewed.     

The locating of hydromagnetic whistler sources and determination of their generating proton spectra

Results are given of the calculations of the group delay time propagating τ(ω, φ₀) of hydromagnetic whistlers, using outer ionospheric models closely resembling actual conditions. The τ(ω, φ₀) dependencies were compared with the experimental data of τ_exp(ω, φ₀) obtained from sonagrams. The sonagrams were recorded in the frequency range $\text{? ? (0.5?2.5) Hz}$ at observation points located at geomagnetic latitudes φ₀ = (53?66)° and in the vicinity of the geomagnetic poles. This investigation has led us to new and important conclusions.The wave packets (W.P.) forming hydromagnetic whistlers (H.W.) are mainly generated in the plasma regions at L = 3.5?4.0. This is not consistent with ideas already expressed in the literature that their generation region is $\text{L ? 3?10}$. The overwhelming majority of the τ_exp values differ considerably from the times at which wave packets would, in theory, propagate along the magnetic field lines corresponding to those of the geomagnetic latitudes φ₀ of the observation points. The second important fact is that the W.P. frequency ω is less than $\text{Ω}{}_{\mathrm{H}}$ everywhere along its propagation trajectory, including the apogee of the magnetic force line ($\text{Ω}{}_{\mathrm{H}}$ is the proton gyrofrequency). Proton flux spectra $\text{E ? (30?120)}$ keV, responsible for H.W. generation, were determined. Comparison of the Explorer-45 and OGO-3 measurements published in the literature, with our data, showed that the proton flux density energy responsible for the H.W. excitation $\text{N}{}_{\mathrm{p}}\text{(}\text{MV}{}_6{}^2\text{2}\text{) ? (5 × 10}{}^{\mathrm{?3}}\text{?10}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}\text{)}\text{H}{}_{\mathrm{a}}{}^2\text{8π}$ where H_a is the magnetic field force in the generation region of these W.P. The electron concentration is $\text{N}{}_{\mathrm{a}}\text{? (10}{}^2\text{?10}{}^3\text{) cm}{}^{\mathrm{?3}}$. The values given in the literature are $\text{N}{}_{\mathrm{a}}\text{? (10}{}^{\mathrm{?10}}\text{?10}{}^3\text{) cm}{}^{\mathrm{?3}}$. The e data considered also leads to the conclusion that the generating mechanism of the W.P. studied probably always co-exists with the mechanism of their amplification.     

Spherical harmonic representation of the gravity field from dynamic satellite data

Spherical harmonics are the natural parameters for the Earth's gravity field as sensed by orbiting satellites, but problems of resolution arise because the spectrum of effects is narrow and unique to each orbit. Comprehensive gravity models now contain many hundreds of thousands of observations from more than thirty different near-Earth artificial satellites. With refinements in tracking systems, newer data is capable of sensing the spherical harmonics of the field experienced by these satellites to very high degree and order. For example, altimeter, laser and satellite-tracking-satellite systems contain gravitational information well above present levels of satellite gravity field recovery (l = 20), but significant aliasing results because the orbital parameters are too restricted compared to the large number of spherical harmonics.It is shown however that the unique spectrum of information for each satellite contained within a comprehensive spherical harmonic model can be represented by simple gravitational constraint equations (lumped harmonics). All such constraints are harmonic in the argument of perigee (ω) with constants determinable directly from tracking data or reconstituted from the comprehensive solution:

$\text{(C}{}^1\text{, S}{}^1\text{) = (C}{}_{\mathrm{o}}\text{, S}{}_{\mathrm{o}}\text{) + Σ}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{= 1 (C}{}_{\mathrm{Ci}}\text{, S}{}_{\mathrm{Ci}}\text{) cos i ω + (C}{}_{\mathrm{Si}}\text{, S}{}_{\mathrm{Si}}\text{) sin i ω}$

. The constants are simple linear combinations of the geopotential harmonics. Through these lumped harmonics any satellite gravity field can be decomposed and then uniformly extended to any degree or tailored to a given orbit without reintegration of the trajectory and variational equations. They also make possible the inclusion of information into the field from special deep resonance passages, long arc zonal analyses, and satellites unique to other models. Numerous examples of the derivation, combination, extension and tailoring of the harmonics are presented. The importance of using data spanning an apsidal period is emphasized.     

Non-linear motion of a weak inhomogeneity in a magneto-active plasma

The equations of motion of a magnetic field aligned column of ionization embedded in an unbounded weakly ionized plasma immersed in an external electric field E are solved to second order terms in the strength of the initial perturbation, which is assumed to be weak. It is shown that when the Hall currents induced by the internal electrostatic field are taken into account, the centre of mass of the column will, in general, move along a curved path before acquiring the familiar $\text{E ×}\text{B}\text{B}{}^2$ drift velocity.     

Geopotential coefficients of order 29, from analysis of the orbit of satellite 1967-104B

The orbit of the satellite 1967-104B has been analysed as it passed through 29:2 resonance with the Earth's gravitational field between January 1977 and September 1978. From the changes in inclination and eccentricity the following lumped 29th-order geopotential harmonic coefficients were obtained: $\text{10}{}^9\text{C}\text{?}{}_{29}{}^{0.2}\text{= 4.1 ± 0.8}$, $\text{10}{}^9\text{S}\text{?}{}_{29}{}^{0.2}\text{= 10.3 ± 2.4}$, $\text{10}{}^9\text{C}\text{?}{}_{29}{}^{1.1}\text{= ? 160 ± 19}$, $\text{10}{}^9\text{S}\text{?}{}_{29}{}^{1.1}\text{= 79 ± 10}$, $\text{10}{}^9\text{C}\text{?}{}_{29}{}^{\mathrm{?1.3}}\text{= 38 ± 14}$, $\text{10}{}^9\text{S}\text{?}{}_{29}{}^{\mathrm{?1.3}}\text{= 19 ± 5}$. These values have been compared with existing comprehensive geopotential models: the best agreement is with the model of Rapp (1981).     

The O(1S) quantum yield from O2+ dissociative recombination

Recent laboratory studies show that the $\text{O}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$ quantum yield, $\text{f}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$, from O₂⁺ dissociative recombination varies considerably with the degree r of vibrational excitation. However, the suggestion that the high values for $\text{f}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$ deduced from airglow and auroral observations can be explained by invoking vibrational excitation, creates a number of problems. Firstly, the rapid vibrational deactivation of O₂⁺ ions by collisions with O atoms will keep r too low to account for the magnitude of $\text{f}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$; secondly, r varies considerably from one atmospheric source to another but its relative values (which should be reliable) do not co-vary with those of $\text{f}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$; thirdly, because r increases markedly above the peak of the $\text{X5577}\text{A}\text{?}$ dissociative recombination layer, the fits which theorists have obtained to the observed volume emission rate profiles would have to be regarded as fortuitious. It is tentatively suggested that $\text{f}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$ is higher in the airglow and aurora than in the laboratory plasma studied by Zipf (1980) because of the electron temperature dependence of the $\text{O}\text{(}{}^1\text{S}\text{)}$ specific recombination coefficient for O₂⁺(v^' ? 3) ions.The repulsive ${}^1\text{Σ}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>u</mtext>}}\text{[}{}^1\text{D}\text{+}{}^1\text{s}\text{]}$ state of O₂ does not provide a suitable channel for the dissociative recombination. A possible alternative is the bound ${}^3\text{Π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>u</mtext>}}\text{[}{}^5\text{S}\text{+}{}^3\text{s}\text{]}$ state with predissociation to the repulsive ${}^3\text{Π}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>u</mtext>}}\text{[}{}^3\text{P}\text{+}{}^1\text{s}\text{]}$ state.     

Non-adiabatic processes in a two-fluid plasma and energization of the plasma sheet plasma

The change of energy of a collisionless, two-fluid plasma consists of the adiabatic gain or loss of energy, which is due to the work done by the electromagnetic forces, and of the non-adiabatic change associated with the presence of the “rest” field $\text{E}{}^1\text{=}\text{E}\text{+ (}\text{1}\text{c}\text{)}\text{V}\text{×}\text{B}$. The non-adiabatic gain or loss of energy per unit ti may be expressed by the relation

$\text{Q=}\text{E}{}_{\mathrm{\parallel }}\text{·}\text{i}{}_{\mathrm{\parallel }}\text{+}\text{c}\text{eNB}{}^2\text{B·}\text{f}\text{?}\text{×f}$

where i is the density of conductive current, N the ion number-density, and f (f?) the sum of inertia and pressure divergence of ions (electrons). Symbols of parallelism refer to the direction of B.A special case of non-adiabatic energization of a slowly convecting plasma sheet plasma is discussed in some detail. Regardless of the value of V, the non-adiabatic energization may significantly exceed any conceivable energization associated with the electric field $\text{?(}\text{1}\text{c}\text{)}\text{V}\text{×}\text{B}$.     

Rocket measurements of electric fields,electron density and temperature during different phases of auroral substorms

On 27 January 1979, three rocket payloads were launched from Kiruna, Sweden into different phases of two successive auroral substorrns. Among other experiments, the payloads carried the RIT double probe electric field experiments providing electric field, electron density and temperature data which are presented here. These data supported by rocket particle observations are discussed mainly in association with ground-based observations (magnetometer, TV) and very briefly with GEOS electric field data. The motions of the auroral forms as obtained from auroral pictures are compared with $\text{E × B}\text{/B}{}^2$ drifts and the currents calculated from the rocket electric field and density measurements with the equivalent current system deduced from ground-based magnetometer data (Scandinavian Magnetometer Array).     

The determination and analysis of the orbit of NIMBUS 1 ROCKET, 1964-52B: Part 2: Variations in orbital eccentricity

The influence of aerodynamic drag and the geopotential on the motion of the satellite 1964-52B is considered. A model of the atmosphere is adopted that allows for oblateness, and in which the density behaviour approximates to the observed diurnal variation. A differential equation governing the variation of the eccentricity, e, combining the effects of air drag with those of the Earth's gravitational field is given. This is solved numerically using as initial conditions 310 computed orbits of 1964-52B.The observed values of eccentricity are modified by the removal of perturbations due to luni-solar attraction, solid Earth and ocean tides, solar radiation pressure and low-order long-periodic tesseral harmonic perturbations. The method of removal of these effects is given in some detail. The behaviour of the orbital eccentricity predicted by the numerical solution is compared with the modified observed eccentricity to obtain values of atmospheric parameters at heights between 310 and 430 km. The daytime maximum of air density is found to be at 14.5 hours local time. Analysis of the eccentricity near 15th order resonance with the geopotential yielded values of four lumped geopotential harmonics of order 15, namely: $\text{10}{}^9\text{C}{}^{\mathrm{1,0}}{}_{15}\text{= ?78.8 ± 7.0}$, $\text{10}{}^9\text{S}{}^{\mathrm{1,0}}{}_{15}\text{= ?69.4 ± 5.3}$, $\text{10}{}^9\text{C}{}^{\mathrm{?1,2}}{}_{15}\text{= ?41.6 ± 3.5}$$\text{10}{}^9\text{S}{}^{\mathrm{?1,2}}{}_{15}\text{= ?26.1 ± 8.9}$, at inclination 98.68°.     

Estimated conductivity ratio ∑H∑P in the auroral electrojets in connection with electrojet width and field-aligned currents

By using ground based magnetic observations and by assuming a three-dimensional current system model the conductivity ratio $\text{∑}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>H</mtext>}}\text{∑}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>P</mtext>}}$ is calculated for several substorms. It is shown that this ratio decreases when the field aligned current intensity is enhanced. The enhancement is connected with a broadening of the electrojet region.     

Linewidth studies on the NI(4S−4P) resonance multiplet

We have measured the linewidths of the NI multiplets $\text{[2p}{}^2\text{3p}{}^4\text{D}{}^0\text{?2p}{}^2\text{3s}{}^4\text{P, λ8691}\text{A}\text{?}\text{; 2p}{}^2\text{3p}{}^4\text{P}{}^0\text{?2p}{}^2\text{3s}{}^4\text{P, λ8212}\text{A}\text{?}\text{; 2p}{}^2\text{3s}{}^4\text{P?2p}{}^3{}^4\text{S}{}^0\text{, λ1200}\text{A}\text{?}\text{]}$ produced in the dissociative excitation of N₂ by energy electrons. The infrared transitions excite the N(⁴P) resonance state by cascade and they account for > 50% of the total N(⁴P) cross section at 100 eV. Both the i.r. and v.u.v. lines are found to be highly Doppler broadened ( ～ 25 times the thermal Doppler line width). These results indicate that dissociative excitation of N₂ produces N (⁴P) atoms with sufficient kinetic energy so that the $\text{λ1200}\text{A}\text{?}$ resonance radiation $\text{[2p}{}^2\text{3s}{}^4\text{P ?2p}{}^3{}^4\text{S}{}^0\text{]}$ emitted by these excited atoms would be optically thin in the Earth's upper atmosphere. We also found that the line strength ratios for the resolved components of the $\text{λ1200}\text{A}\text{?}$ triplet excited by dissociative excitation differ from those predicted by the multiplicities of the states involved and used in current entrapment models; the intensity ratios also vary with the energy of the incident electron. These developments introduce new complications into the analysis of the terrestrial ultraviolet dayglow.     

Electron runaway in turbulent astrophysical plasmas

An astrophysical electron acceleration process is described which involves turbulent plasma effects: the acceleration mechanism will operate in ‘collision free’ magnetoactive astrophysical plasmas when ion-acoustic turbulence is generated by an electric field which acts parallel to the ambient magnetic lines of force. The role of ‘anomalous’ (ion-sound) resistivity is crucial in maintaining the parallel electric field. It is shown that, in spite of the turbulence, a small fraction of the electron population can accelerate freely, i.e. runaway, in the high parallel electric potential. The number density n^(B) of the runaway electron component is of order $\text{n}{}^{\mathrm{(B)}}\text{?}\text{n}\text{2}\text{(}\text{c}{}_{\mathrm{s}}\text{U}{}_{\mathrm{\parallel }}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{)}{}^2$, where n = background electron number density, c_s = ion-sound speed and U_∥^? = relative drift velocity between the electron and ion populations. The runaway mechanism and the number density n^(B) do not depend critically on the details of the non-linear saturation of the ion-sound instability.