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Altitude variation of the plasmapause signature in the main ionospheric trough
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Webb, Phillip A. Benson, Robert F. Grebowsky, Joseph M. Bilitza, Dieter Truhlik, Vladimir |
| Copyright Year | 2009 |
| Description | The projection of the plasmapause magnetic-field lines to low altitudes, where the light-ion chemistry is dominated by O(+), tends to occur near the minimum electron density in the main (midlatitude) electron density trough at night. With increasing attitude in the trough, where H(+) emerges as the dominant iota on the low-latitude boundary, we have found cases where the plasmapause field lines are located on the sharp low-Latitude side of the trough as expected if this topside ionosphere H(+) distribution varies in step with the plasmapause gradient in the distant plasmasphere. These conclusions are based on near-equatorial crossings of the plasmapause (corresponding to the steep gradient in the dominant species H(+) by the Explorer-45 satellite as determined from electric-field measurements by Maynard and Cauffman in the early 1970s and ISIS-2 ionospheric topside-sounder measurements. The former data have now been converted to digital form and made available at http://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov. The latter provide samples of nearly coincident observations of ionospheric main trough crossings near the same magnetic-field lines of the Explorer 45-determined equatorial plasmapause. The ISIS-2 vertical electron density profiles are used to infer where the F-region transitions from an O(+) to a H(+) dominated plasma through the main trough boundaries. |
| File Size | 1003082 |
| Page Count | 8 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_20110007238 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t3cz86f20 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 2009-01-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Geophysics Ion Density Concentration Ionospheres Hydrogen Ions Explorer 45 Satellite Troughs Electron Density Profiles Sounding Plasmapause Solar Terrestrial Interactions Oxygen Ions F Region Altitude Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
