Catalogue of gamma-bursts detected by the Soviet-French experiment “signe 2M” (Venera-11, 12 and Prognoz-7)

This catalogue includes 49 confirmed gamma-ray bursts recorded by the Signe-2M experiment over the period September 1978 – January 1980. This Soviet-French experiment was launched on the three Soviet spacecraft Venera-11, Venera-12, and PROGNOZ-7. The PROGNOZ-7 spacecraft recorded bursts from November 1978 to May 1979. The Venera interplanetary spacecraft operated with short interruptions.The catalogue gives the histories of selected bursts with a time resolution of 1/64 s, which have never appeared in the literature. These time histories demonstrate the difference between and temporal peculiarities of these events. Table 1 summarizes precise burst arrival times at the spacecraft and the coordinates of the spacecraft at those times.     

The measurement of water vapour in thermal emission on studies of nimbus-7 stratoprobe flights for correlative studies of nimbus-7

A scanning infrared radiometer used to measure nitric acid was flown on the STRATOPROBE Flight of November 8, 1978. Using the observed thermal emission from 6.5 to 7.4 microns during the balloon ascent, a water vapour profile has been derived using a band model of the water vapour lines in this spectral region. The resulting profile has a minimum of 3.3 ppmv at the tropopause and then rises to a value of 5 ppmv by 30 km. The profile is comparable to the profile from another water vapour instrument from the National Physical Laboratory which was flown on the LIP balloon payload on the same day. A coincident profile from the LIMS experiment on NIMBUS 7 was also obtained since the STRATOPROBE experiment was flown as a correlative measurement for the LIMS experiment.     

Experimental testing of “corpuscular” hypothesis of night-time mid-latitude ionosphere—results of simultaneous rocket-satellite investigations

In June of 1978 a joint Soviet-American experiment (JASPIC) was carried out; its objective was to investigate nighttime corpuscular fluxes in the mid-latitude ionosphere. Simultaneous satellite measurements are in a good agreement with rocket results.     

Microgravity experiment system utilizing a balloon

A system for microgravity experiments by using a stratospheric balloon has been planned and developed in ISAS since 1978. A rocket-shaped chamber mounting the experiment apparatus is released from the balloon around 30 km altitude. The microgravity duration is from the release to opening of parachute, controlled by an on-board sequential timer. Test flights were performed in 1980 and in 1981. In September 1983 the first scientific experiment, observing behaviors and brain activities of fishes in the microgravity circumstance, have been successfully carried out. The chamber is specially equipped with movie cameras and subtransmitters, and its release altitude is about 32 km. The microgravity observed inside the chamber is less than 2.9 × 10^?3 G during 10 sec. Engineering aspects of the system used in the 1983 experiment are presented.     

Results from the LIMS experiment for the PMP-1 winter 1978/79

The Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) experiment utilized a 6-channel limb scanning infrared radiometer on the Nimbus 7 spacecraft, for the purpose of determining global distributions of temperature and trace constituents in the middle atmosphere (15–65 km) with high vertical resolution.LIMS observations provide a detailed picture of atmospheric variability during the disturbed winter of 1978/79. During January and February, three large disturbances caused simultaneous temperature changes through most of the global middle atmosphere. The amplitudes and phases of the planetary temperature and height waves show large variations during this time. Their values and derived quantities are larger than those resulting from data with lower vertical resolution. The Eliassen-Palm fluxes calculated for late January are in qualitative agreement with the observed acceleration of the zonal winds.     

Kilometric type II radiation from interplanetary shocks: Interpretation of voyager results

April 1978 was an unusually active month with five well-defined kilometric type II radio bursts observed by the radio astronomy experiment on the Voyager spacecraft. An analysis has been made of these kilometric radio events and their associated interplanetary shocks. The apparent speed of each of the shocks was determined from the average frequency drift rate of the kilometric type II burst by employing the hypothesis that the radiation was emitted at the local plasma frequency. This analysis suggests that the Type II radiation is plasma emission at the fundamental with the most intense Type II emission emanating from local dense structures in the interplanetary medium. We further show that sudden changes in the frequency drift rate can be explained by assuming that the shock propagates into a region with a different density gradient.     

On compositional variations of heavy ions during solar particle events

Intensity-time profiles of protons, alpha particles, and heavy ions (C, O, Fe) in the MeV/nucleon energy range have been analyzed for one solar particle event following the solar flare on September 23, 1978. The data have been obtained with the wide angle double dE/dx-E sensor of the Max-Planck-Institut/University of Maryland experiment onboard ISEE-3. We found time variations in the iron to helium ratio of up to 2 orders of magnitude and a significant variation of the O/He ratio during this event, whereas the C/O-ratio at the same energy/nucleon appears to be time independent. We investigated the influence of a rigidity dependent mean free path in interplanetary space and of rigidity dependent coronal propagation on heavy ion ratios during solar particle events. We found that both the magnitude and time scale of the ratio changes during the September 23 event cannot be explained by rigidity dependent interplanetary or coronal propagation alone. These ratio changes are probably caused by multiple injection at the sun.     

First results of the growing of PbTe single crystals under microgravity conditions

Two sublimation experiments with PbTe were performed at 850°C and 750°C under microgravity conditions during the “Salyut-6”-“Soyuz-31” mission in 1978. The sublimation took place on the (100)-face of a PbTe crystal. The condensate grown at 850°C shows in the upper part the formation of a pyramidal habit. The bulk consists of parallel growth colums with [100]-boundary faces. The charge carrier concentration of the electrons (N=1,5·10¹⁹ cm^?3) is higher than the homogeniety limit for 800°C should permit. This is in contrast to the result obtained on the PbTe crystal of the parallel experiment on the earth. At 750°C a laminated condensate is grown with a low growth rate. The microphotograph of the substrate shows the beginning whisker formation according to the VLS-mechanism.     

Mean zonal wind and temperature structure during the PMP-1 winter periods

Since Autumn of 1978, the National Meteorological Center of the United States National Weather Service has been archiving in a single, unique data set, global, daily synoptic analyses and computer gridded fields of geopotential height and temperature at 18 pressure levels from 1000 to 0.4 mb. The paper discusses the fields, with special emphasis on data and analysis procedures used for the stratospheric fields, along with estimates of uncertainties. Results are presented for the mean zonal wind and temperature patterns for each January of the four PMP-1 winters 1978/79 to 1981/82. The Preparatory MAP (Middle Atmosphere Program) Project for coordinated study of the behavior of the middle atmosphere is called PMP-1.     

Gravity model development for precise orbit computations for satellite altimetry

Satellite altimeters have been developed which have the capability of measuring the surface topography of the ocean over entire basins for time periods of several years with a precision of a few cm. The combination of these data with accurate satellite position information, subsurface measurements and models of the density field can be used to determine the general circulation of the ocean and its variability. The Topex altimeter oceanographic experiment proposed for the early 1990's requires a radial orbit accuracy approaching 10 cm. Considerable progress has been made at the Goddard Space Flight Center in developing precision orbit determination to support satellite altimetry analysis. This progress is attributed to the development of more accurate models of the earth gravity field, earth and ocean tidal effects, a reference coordinate system as well as improved drag and solar radiation pressure computations. This computational system has been used for the Seasat data acquired during the 1978 time period and has produced an rms radial accuracy of about 50 cm. A first step towards the development of a new Interim gravity model is presented. Global orbit determination accuracies have been improved using these new PGS-T1 and T2 fields.     

Merging Landsat and spaceborne radar data over Tunisia

Synthetic Aperture Radar data were acquired over Tunisia by Seasat in Aug. 1978 and by SIR-A in Nov. 1981. The radar images are contrasted to the Landsat scenes overlapping the same area. The Landsat images were taken in Aug. 1978 and in Sept. 1981. In this study, subareas of the SIR-A and MSS images are registered to the corresponding Seasat data (1313 lines by 1970 samples). The test site is located East of Kairouan, Tunisia. It is a low relief area with subdesertic climatic conditions. This region was selected for it has been surveyed by both Seasat and SIR-A providing perpendicular radar illumination directions. The multispectral and multitemporal coregistered data set enables comparisons between the systems (radar versus MSS, and Seasat versus SIR-A), and change detection in the desertification processes and on the surface of the playas.     

Satellite measurements of atmospheric composition

Since 1978 a number of satellite borne sensors have been used to measure the composition of the earth's atmosphere. These include the LIMS and SAMS instruments on the Nimbus 7 satellite (launched in October 1978), the SAGE instrument on the AEM2 satellite (launched in february 1979) and various instruments on the SME spacecraft (launched October 1981). For many species, these have provided the first abundance measurements with high spatial and temporal resolution and with global coverage. In this paper the composition measurements that have become available from these programs will be reviewed. The paper will then describe some recent studies that have made use of the new data. As it is the exclusive subject of another invited paper, ozone will not be discussed in in any detail.     

Measurements of the artificially stimulated precipitation of electrons from the inner radiation belt in the experiment “SPOLOKH-2”

Evidence for an enhancement of the electron flux associated with a barium chaped charge release from “SPOLOKH-2” rocket payload, launched from Volgograd (L = 2.2) on June 29, 1978, will be presented. There is also evidence for a periodic train of particle bursts occurring with about 11 second period during more than 100 seconds after the release. The observed phenomena is interpreted as a “trigger-effect”.     

Long-term observations of the trapped high-energy proton population (L < 4) by the NOAA Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES)

The Space Environment Monitor (SEM) onboard the NOAA POES satellites has been measuring the near-Earth charged particle environment since 1978, providing an extensive database that can be used for studying the long-term behavior of this population of trapped particles. POES stands for Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite. These satellites orbit at ∼840 km altitude and at an inclination of 98°. The SEM-1 instrument was flown on the POES satellites beginning in 1978 with TIROS-N and NOAA-6 in 1979 and continuing to NOAA-14 launched in 1995 with the exception of NOAA-9 and NOAA-11 (NOAA-13 failed shortly after launch). Its replacement, SEM-2, has flown on the POES NOAA-15, -16, and -17 satellites (from 1998). Here we present the results of a study on the statistical variations of the high-energy trapped proton environment. Among the detectors in SEM, the four SEM-2 omni-directional proton detectors for energies >16 MeV, >36 MeV, >70 MeV, and >140 MeV provide the data most relevant to this study.     

EXOSAT observations of two gamma-ray burst sources

EXOSAT observations of the 19 Nov 1978 and 25 Mar 1979b gamma bursters are presented, for the 0.02–2.5 keV energy range. No source was detected in either case, leading to temperature upper limits for the neutron stars assumed to be present of 10⁵–10⁶ °K. Polar cap accretion rates are constrained to values of 10⁻¹²–10⁻¹⁸ M_⊙/y km². The EXOSAT non-detection of the source discovered by the Einstein satellite in the 19 Nov 1978 error box may be explained if the burster is more distant than about 1.5 kpc.     

Direct observation of charge state abundances of energetic He,C, O,and Fe emitted in solar flares

The ionic charge states of helium, carbon, oxygen, and iron have been determined for three solar particle enhancements by an electrostatic deflection analyzer, which is combined with a thin window proportional counter dE/dX vs. E system. The observations are obtained during the periods September 23 to 29, 1978, June 6 to 8, 1979, and September 15 to 26, 1979, with an instrument onboard the ISEE-3 spacecraft. The mean ionic charge states for He, C, and oxygen exhibit a high degree of ionization with values of Q = 2, 6, and 7.2, respectively. The charge state of iron is near 13 charge units. Variations from flare to flare and within the September 23, 1978 flare are small. The most surprising feature of the charge state measurement is the observation of a small (～10%) but finite contribution of singly ionized helium.     

Detection of long-term trends in global stratospheric temperature from NMC analyses derived from NOAA satellite data

Since 24 September 1978 global daily fields of temperature and geopotential height at 8 stratospheric pressure levels 70 to 0.4 mb (18–55 km) have been produced at the U.S. National Meteorological Center. Temperature profiles derived from NOAA operational satellites constitute the sole data source for the upper stratospheric levels 5, 2, 1, and 0.4 mb (35, 42, 48 and 55 km). Significant changes in upper stratosphere reported temperatures have accompanied each of the eight changes in either operational satellite or method of data processing. Comparisons with rocketsonde data from 1978 to 1986 show bias changes of 1 to 5 Celsius degrees at various levels. For detecting long term trends of ambient stratospheric temperature, adjustments based on rocket comparisons must be applied to the NMC fields. Lack of data at north polar latitudes and in the southern hemisphere limits comprehensive characterization of temperature uncertainty. We discuss in detail our ability to characterize temperature uncertainty of the NMC stratospheric analyses. We specifically discuss our ability to detect a trend in the middle stratosphere temperature of about 1.5 celsius degrees per decade, the amount of change indicated likely by current theoretical models.     

Fast spectroscopy of the 4 November 1978 gamma-ray burst

The Franco-Soviet Signe experiments on Venera 11 and Venera 12 allow a spectral analysis of gamma-ray bursts with a time resolution of 250 ms. Evidence is presented for i) short annihilation flashes of up to 20 photons cm⁻²s⁻¹ and ii) rapid variations of the continuum, from a study of the intense 4 November 1978 event.     

Structure of plasma blobs injected into the ionosphere from a rocket

To study artificial disturbances in the ionosphere, caused by pulsed injection of plasma two MR-12 rockets with plasma guns were launched from Volgograd in 1978–1979. The pulsed plasma was ejected from the separated daughter payload, alternatively, along and transverse the magnetic field lines. The experimental and model data on structure and dynamics of the artificial plasma blobs in the ionosphere are discussed.     

The United States operational polar-orbiting satellite series,TIROS-N

The U.S. launched the first of its new series of polar-orbiting, operational satellites, named TIROS-N, on 13 October 1978. The second, named NOAA-A, was launched on 27 June 1979. Together they comprise the operational system since from an average altitude of 840 km two satellites are required to provide global coverage in the equatorial zone. Operational products for FGGE (atmospheric temperature profiles, sea surface temperature analysis, and other data) are discussed and compared with prior performance. New uses in support of oceanology (Service ARGOS) are described.