Dayside ionospheric uplift during strong geomagnetic storms as detected by the CHAMP,SAC-C,TOPEX and Jason-1 satellites

Ionosphere response to severe geomagnetic storms that occurred in 2001–2003 was analyzed using data of global ionosphere maps (GIM), altimeter data from the Jason-1 and TOPEX satellites, and data of GPS receivers on-board CHAMP and SAC-C satellites. This allowed us to study in detail ionosphere redistribution due to geomagnetic storms, dayside ionospheric uplift and overall dayside TEC increase. It is shown that after the interplanetary magnetic field turns southward and intensifies, the crests of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) travel poleward and the TEC value within the EIA area increases significantly (up to ∼50%). GPS data from the SAC-C satellite show that during the main phase of geomagnetic storms TEC values above the altitude of 715 km are 2–3 times higher than during undisturbed conditions. These effects of dayside ionospheric uplift occur owing to the “super-fountain effect” and last few hours while the enhanced interplanetary electric field impinged on the magnetopause.     

Ionospheric Effects of Geomagnetic Storms in Different Longitude Sectors

This paper analyzes the state of the ionosphere during two geomagnetic storms of a different intensity evolving in different sectors of local time in different seasons. There were used the data from a network of ionospheric stations located in the opposite longitudinal sectors of 80°-150° E and 250°-310° E.This analysis has permitted us to conclude that the detected differences in the variations of the disturbances are likely to be determined by the local time difference of the geomagnetic storm development, its intensity and by the different illumination conditions of the ionosphere.      

某型飞机尾喷管开裂原因分析

尾喷管作为飞机发动机的重要组成部件之一,主要由薄板焊接而成。由于其长期在高温、振动以及气流冲刷等恶劣环境中工作,常出现尾喷管失效事故,而焊缝作为尾喷管中的薄弱部分,常出现开裂现象。某型飞机尾喷管在飞行完成后的例行检查中在焊缝上以及焊缝周边检查发现两处裂纹。通过宏观检验、断裂面形貌分析以及金相组织分析等方法对其开裂原因进行了分析。结果表明:由于结构设计原因,尾喷管上同一位置存在多次焊接现象,为多密集焊缝结构件,使得焊接接头过热,焊缝组织中铁素体呈现网状分布,同时尾喷管母材上存在焊接烧穿现象,导致焊接接头力学性能下降,使得疲劳裂纹萌生并扩展;支撑螺杆与加强筋未焊满,收弧处为点连接而非面连接,在飞行过程中,该位置发生振动应力集中并萌生疲劳裂纹,并最终发生疲劳失效。     

Design and application of an Electric Tail Rotor Drive Control (ETRDC) for helicopters with performance tests

With the development of electric helicopters’ motor technology and the widespread use of electric drive rotors, more aircraft use electric rotors to provide thrust and directional control. For a helicopter tail rotor, the wake of the main rotor influences the tail rotor’s inflow and wake. In the procedure of controlling, crosswind will also cause changes to the tail disk load. This paper describes requirements and design principles of an electric motor drive and variable pitch tail rotor system. A particular spoke-type architecture of the motor is designed, and the performance of blades is analyzed by the CFD method. The demand for simplicity of moving parts and strict constraints on the weight of a helicopter makes the design of electrical and mechanical components challenging. Different solutions have been investigated to propose an effective alternative to the mechanical actuation system. A test platform is constructed which can collect the dynamic response of the thrust control. The enhancement of the response speed due to an individual motor speed control and variable-pitch system is validated.     

Midlatitude ionospheric F2-layer response to eruptive solar events-caused geomagnetic disturbances over Hungary during the maximum of the solar cycle 24: A case study

In our study we analyze and compare the response and behavior of the ionospheric F2 and of the sporadic E-layer during three strong (i.e., Dst?<??100nT) individual geomagnetic storms from years 2012, 2013 and 2015, winter time period. The data was provided by the state-of the art digital ionosonde of the Széchenyi István Geophysical Observatory located at midlatitude, Nagycenk, Hungary (IAGA code: NCK, geomagnetic latitude: 46.17° geomagnetic longitude: 98.85°). The local time of the sudden commencement (SC) was used to characterize the type of the ionospheric storm (after Mendillo and Narvaez, 2010). This way two regular positive phase (RPP) ionospheric storms and one no-positive phase (NPP) storm have been analyzed. In all three cases a significant increase in electron density of the foF2 layer can be observed at dawn/early morning (around 6:00 UT, 07:00 LT). Also we can observe the fade-out of the ionospheric layers at night during the geomagnetically disturbed time periods. Our results suggest that the fade-out effect is not connected to the occurrence of the sporadic E-layers.     

Evaluation of geomagnetic field models using magnetometer measurements for satellite attitude determination system at low earth orbits: Case studies

In this study, different geomagnetic field models are compared in order to study the errors resulting from the representation of magnetic fields that affect the satellite attitude system. For this purpose, we used magnetometer data from two Low Earth Orbit (LEO) spacecraft and the geomagnetic models IGRF-12 (Thébault et al., 2015) and T89 (Tsyganenko, 1989) models to study the differences between the magnetic field components, strength and the angle between the predicted and observed vector magnetic fields. The comparisons were made during geomagnetically active and quiet days to see the effects of the geomagnetic storms and sub-storms on the predicted and observed magnetic fields and angles. The angles, in turn, are used to estimate the spacecraft attitude and hence, the differences between model and observations as well as between two models become important to determine and reduce the errors associated with the models under different space environment conditions. We show that the models differ from the observations even during the geomagnetically quiet times but the associated errors during the geomagnetically active times increase. We find that the T89 model gives closer predictions to the observations, especially during active times and the errors are smaller compared to the IGRF-12 model. The magnitude of the error in the angle under both environmental conditions was found to be less than 1°. For the first time, the geomagnetic models were used to address the effects of the near Earth space environment on the satellite attitude.     

辐射带高能电子通量波动与地磁暴警报

地球磁场捕获带电粒子形成辐射带,地磁场的扰动将导致带电粒子通量的变化.根据磁暴期间外辐射带高能电子通量起伏和波动的特点及规律,利用GOES卫星实时发布的5min分辨率高能电子微分通量数据,构建了高能电子通量波动指数,并分析了该指数与地磁活动的关系.结果表明,所提出的高能电子通量波动指数与地磁事件有很好的相关性,能起到地磁暴发生的指示剂作用,相对于目前空间环境业务化预报过程中广泛使用的3hKp指数,高能电子通量波动指数能更早地警报地磁暴的发生,是潜在有效的地磁暴警报辅助手段,能为空间环境预报中的地磁暴实时警报提供重要参考.      

宇宙线变化特征在强地磁暴预报中的应用

利用宇宙线中子探测数据定性分析了地面宇宙线多台站之间的相互联系以及大磁暴与宇宙线之间的响应关系. 以Irkutsk和Oulu宇宙线台站为例, 运用小波去噪技术提高数据的稳定性. 结果表明, 相同世界时条件下, 两站宇宙线通量相关性在事件发生时较高; 而相同地方时条件下, 相关性则在平静期较高. 进一步采用相同地方时条件对不同宇宙线台站的通量在平静期和扰动期的相对变化进行分析, 选取2004年7月强地磁暴典型事例进行直观分析, 发现大地磁暴前Irkutsk和Oulu台站的宇宙线相对通量发生明显差异, 可以尝试作为强地磁暴宇宙线先兆特征. 通过对2001年3月至2005年5月的强磁暴和中强磁暴进行统计, 得到与强地磁暴相关的适当宇宙线相对差异阈值. 将得到的阈值对2005年9月至2011年12月所有强磁暴及中强磁暴进行验证, 总成功率达到87.5%, 误报率为35.7%, 结果较好.      

On the large-scale structure of the tail current as measured by THEMIS

The magnetic field structure and the spatial characteristics of the large-scale currents in the magnetospheric tail were studied during quiet and moderately disturbed geomagnetic conditions in 2009. The magnetic field of the currents other than the tail current was calculated in terms of a paraboloid model of the Earth’s magnetosphere, A2000, and was subtracted from measurements. It was found on the base of obtained tail current magnetic field radial distribution that the inner edge of the tail current sheet is located in the night side magnetosphere, at distances of about 10 R_E and of about 7 R_E during quiet and disturbed periods respectively. During the disturbance of February 14, 2009 (Dst_min ∼ −35 nT), the B_x and the B_z component of the tail current magnetic field near its inner edge were about 60 nT, and −60 nT that means that strong cross-tail current have been developed. The tail current parameters at different time moments during February 14, 2009 have been estimated. Solar wind conditions during this event were consistent with those during moderate magnetic storms with minimum Dst of about −100 nT. However, the magnetospheric current systems (magnetopause and cross-tail currents) were located at larger geocentric distances than typical during the 2009 extremely quiet epoch and did not provide the expected Dst magnitude. Very small disturbance on the Earth’s surface was detected consistent with an “inflated” magnetosphere.     

Traveling ionospheric disturbances observed at South African midlatitudes during the 29–31 October 2003 geomagnetically disturbed period

This paper presents traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) observations from GPS measurements over the South African region during the geomagnetically disturbed period of 29–31 October 2003. Two receiver arrays, which were along two distinct longitudinal sectors of about 18°-20° and 27°-28° were used in order to investigate the amplitude, periods and virtual propagation characteristics of the storm induced ionospheric disturbances. The study revealed a large sudden TEC increase on 28 October 2003, the day before the first of the two major storms studied here, that was recorded simultaneously by all the receivers used. This pre-storm enhancement was linked to an X-class solar flare, auroral/magnetospheric activities and vertical plasma drift, based on the behaviour of the geomagnetic storm and auroral indices as well as strong equatorial electrojet. Diurnal trends of the TEC and foF2 measurements revealed that the geomagnetic storm caused a negative ionospheric storm; these parameters were depleted between 29 and 31 October 2003. Large scale traveling ionospheric disturbances were observed on the days of the geomagnetic storms (29 and 31 October 2003), using line-of-sight vertical TEC (vTEC) measurements from individual satellites. Amplitude and dominant periods of these structures varied between 0.08–2.16 TECU, and 1.07–2.13 h respectively. The wave structures were observed to propagate towards the equator with velocities between 587.04 and 1635.09 m/s.