The Earth's Plasmasphere


Book Description

James L. Burch·C. Philippe Escoubet Originally published in the journal Space Science Reviews, Volume 145, Nos 1–2, 1–2. DOI: 10. 1007/s11214-009-9532-7 © Springer Science+Business Media B. V. 2009 The IMAGE and CLUSTER spacecraft have revolutionized our understanding of the inner magnetosphere and in particular the plasmasphere. Before launch, the plasmasphere was not a prime objective of the CLUSTER mission. In fact, CLUSTER might not have ever observed this region because a few years before the CLUSTER launch (at the beginning of the 1990s), it was proposed to raise the perigee of the orbit to 8 Earth radii to make multipoint measu- ments in the current disruption region in the tail. Because of ground segment constraints, this proposal did not materialize. In view of the great depth and breadth of plasmaspheric research and numerous papers published on the plasmasphere since the CLUSTER launch, this choice certainly was a judicious one. The fact that the plasmasphere was one of the prime targets in the inner magnetosphere for IMAGE provided a unique opportunity to make great strides using the new and comp- mentary measurements of the two missions. IMAGE, with sensitive EUV cameras, could for the rst time make global images of the plasmasphere and show its great variability d- ing storm-time. CLUSTER, with four-spacecraft, could analyze in situ spatial and temporal structures at the plasmapause that are particularly important in such a dynamic system.




The Plasma Sphere


Book Description

With a subdued hissing sound, a luminous sphere emerged from the fireplace, moving slowly, parallel to the wall and knee-height from the floor. The sphere was half the size of a football, and moved horizontally, set away from the wall by an arms-length. Both Toshiro and his uncle gazed at this apparition in profound fascination. Then the sphere suddenly vanished, leaving a faint smell of ozone and nitric oxide as the only vestiges of its passing. The whole experience had probably lasted less than two seconds. They remained silent and heard a distant roll of thunder. There had been no sharp crack of a local lightning strike. Toshiro was the first to speak, "Uncle, what on earth was that?" "Ball lightning " The son of a Scottish father and a Japanese mother, child prodigy hero Toshiro Alexander Muir embarks on a quest to unravel a mystery of nature: the explanation behind ball lightning. Set against the backdrop of the first half of the last century, The Plasma Sphere delves into psychoactive mushrooms, Nazi spies in Brazil, and some unpalatable characters in Argentina as Toshiro and his group of anarchist friends determine to change the course of history.







Solar Dynamics and its Effects on the Heliosphere and Earth


Book Description

This volume helps the reader to understand the ways and means of how dynamical phenomena are generated at the Sun, how they travel through the Heliosphere, and how they affect Earth. It provides an integrated account of the three principal chains of events all the way from the Sun to Earth: the normal solar wind, coronal mass ejections, and solar energetic particles.




The Earth's Plasmasphere


Book Description

This is the first monograph to describe the historical development of ideas concerning the plasmasphere by the pioneering researchers themselves. The plasmasphere is a cold thermal plasma cloud encircling the Earth, terminating abruptly at a radial distance of 30,000 km over a sharp discontinuity known as the plasmapause. The volume commences with an account of the difficulties met in USSR by Gringauz to publish his early discoveries from Soviet rocket measurements, and the contemporaneous breakthroughs by Carpenter in the USA from ground-based whistler measurements. The authors then update our picture of the plasmasphere by presenting experimental and observational results of the past three decades, and mathematical and physical theories proposed to explain its formation. The volume will be invaluable for researchers in space physics, and will also appeal to those interested in the history of science.







Kinetic Theory of the Inner Magnetospheric Plasma


Book Description

The inner magnetosphere plasma is a very unique composition of different plasma particles and waves. It covers a huge energy plasma range with spatial and time variations of many orders of magnitude. In such a situation, the kinetic approach is the key element, and the starting point of the theoretical description of this plasma phenomena which requires a dedicated book to this particular area of research.




High-Latitude Space Plasma Physics


Book Description

Nobel symposium No. 54 on High Latitude Magnetospheric/Iono spheric Plasma Physics was organized in Kiruna, Sweden on March 22-25, 1982 by Kiruna Geophysical Institute and EISCAT Scientific Association. Some 50 leading experts from Western Europe, America and USSR were invited to the Symposium. One main purpose of the Symposium was to prepare for the intense European research effort in space plasma physics in the middle 1980's, in which the EISCAT facilities and the Swedish satellite Viking are two of the more important constituents. The prograuune of the symposium was tied to the physics of those regions of near space where EISCAT and Viking are expected to pro vide important new observational results. This is rather well covered by the t it Ie of these proceedings: High Lat itude Space Plasma Physics. The first two sessions dealt with the physics of the high latitude ionosphere and the third one with how this part of near space is affected by the properties of the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field. The remaining three sessions covered fairly extensively the high latitude magnetospheric physics at altitudes of 1-2 earth radii, which is the main scien tific object of the Viking project. The Prograuune COllDlittee of the Kiruna Nobel Symposium was composed of the following European scientists: P. Bauer (Issy-les-Moulineaux), R. Bostrom (Uppsala), C.G. FalthallDlar (Stockholm), T. Hagfors (Kiruna, Cochairman), o. Holt (Troms, s), B. Hultqvist (Kiruna, Cochairman), H. Kohl (Lindau), J. Oksman (Oulu), H. Rishbeth (Chilton), and L. Stenflo (Ume!).




Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Thruster (IECT)


Book Description

This work summarizes the state-of-the-art development of inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) thruster, which can be divided into two parallel lines of development: the IEC plasma source and the corresponding electromagnetic nozzle (EMN). Both developing lines start from the establishment of the theory and modeling and evolve to the design implementation and experimental verification. The IEC discharge model highlights a novel perspective on the IEC discharge physics and the impacts of the respective critical parameters, which layouts the design for the IEC plasma source. Experimental verification for the theory is demonstrated via the optical emission spectroscopy and collision radiative model. The results provide conclusive evidence of forming a spherical double layer within the IEC plasma source, which is the key to establishing the proposed IEC discharge theory in this work. This work presents a comprehensive study on the magnetohydrodynamic theory for assessing the plasma acceleration in the magnetic nozzle. Nevertheless, the result shows a performance limitation of the magnetic nozzle. An innovative invention is proposed to overcome the limitation known as the EMN. Thorough descriptions of EMN and its working principle are summarized in this work, including its effects on plasma confinement, acceleration, and detachment. Investigation of the plasma plume properties by miscellaneous plasma diagnostics tools further demonstrates EMN functionality and constitutes the first IECT prototype with proof-of-concept in literature.




Magnetospheric Plasma Sources and Losses


Book Description

This sixth volume in the ISSI Space Sciences Series is a fully integrated book that gives an authoritative overview of all aspects of the topic in a well-organized form. Leading international scientists from all over the world contributed consistent, cross-referenced articles of high scientific standard.