Global distribution of electron temperature and density fluctuations measured by AEROS-B

Abstract

Between July 1974 and September 1975 aboard AEROS-B the electron temperature and the electron density have been measured by the Retarding Potential Analyses and the Impedance Probe respectively in the altitude range 200–870 km. Temperature and density fluctuations along satellite paths have been analysed by digital filtering. The large amount of data allows the mean fluctuations at different heights and latitude intervals to be evaluated. The resulting two-dimensional arrays are presented for some time periods. The global distributions show different patterns in the polar and equatorial regions, and seasonal variations. Mean temperature fluctuations and fluctuations of electron density in general occur simultaneously though with different amplitudes. At high latitudes a seasonal dependence in the strength of the fluctuations of both quantities was observed.