Measurement of Thermal Electrons at Rocket Altitudes in Nightside Active Aurora

Details Measurement of Thermal Electrons at Rocket Altitudes in Nightside Active Aurora Measurement of Thermal Electrons at Rocket Altitudes in Nightside Active Aurora

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003agufmsm11c1185m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003, abstract #SM11C-1185

Computer Science

Sound

2407 Auroral Ionosphere (2704), 2431 Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions (2736), 2455 Particle Precipitation, 2467 Plasma Temperature And Density, 2494 Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

On January 14, 2002 the SIERRA sounding rocket was launched from Alaska into active substorm expansion aurora and reached 735 km altitude. For the first time, measurements of the cold ionospheric population in darkness were made by the UNH thermal electron detector (TED). At these middle altitudes, understanding this population is important because the thermal electrons can carry currents coupling the collisional atmosphere and the magnetospheric auroral source. The considerable instrumental difficulties with this measurement will be thoroughly discussed including the effects of spacecraft potential, Debye length, applied skin bias, and surface charging. Recent efforts to verify instrument response through laboratory testing will be highlighted. During flight, the TED instrument yielded thermal temperatures between 0.1 - 0.4 eV. We will examine how the measured population agrees with a Maxwellian-shaped distribution through independent comparisons of density as derived by the TED and also an HF wave receiver plasma frequency measurement. The physics of the ambient cold population and its interaction with auroral mechanisms will be emphasized throughout.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Measurement of Thermal Electrons at Rocket Altitudes in Nightside Active Aurora does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Measurement of Thermal Electrons at Rocket Altitudes in Nightside Active Aurora, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Measurement of Thermal Electrons at Rocket Altitudes in Nightside Active Aurora will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1647916