Origin of planetary atmospheres

The near absence of noble gases on earth, other than those of radioactive origin, indicates that the earth was formed by the accumulation of planetesimals; this process systematically excluded all constituents that did not enter into the solid phase. The atmosphere and the ocean with many of its dissolved salts have arisen from gases emitted from the earth's interior, a process that continues today. The oxygen in the earth's atmosphere plus a greater quantity that has been removed from the atmosphere to oxidize geologic materials, has arisen mainly from a small excess of photosynthesis over decay of organic material. The atmospheres of Mars and Venus have probably arisen in a manner similar to the atmosphere on earth, by emission from the planetary interiors. However, they have not received any oxygen from photosynthesis and so are nearly oxygen free. Mars has very little water in its atmosphere, and this can be explained by its lower than freezing average surface temperature. Venus also has very little water, and this requires an ad hoc explanation; one possibility is that Venus was formed from much drier planetesimals than was the earth. Mercury and the moon are virtually without atmospheres. Although some gases may be emitted from their interiors, they are presumably rapidly lost by escape. Whatever atmosphere they possess is probably due to the neutralized solar wind that impinges upon them. The outer planets retained volatiles, including hydrogen and helium, to a much greater extent than did the terrestrial planets.     

Leveling of Analytic Platforms

Use of an analytic platform or strapdown system requires that the system em be initially leveled just as a conventional multigimbaled platform must be leveled. The process of leveling involves the determination of the orientation between the local vertical and an instrumented reference nce frame. With a conventional platform it is quite common to use a pair of servo loops to precess the inner gimbal until gravity signals are nulled on two orthogonally mounted accelerometers. The input axes of these two accelerometers thus define the horizontal plane and the platform is said to be leveled. A strapdown system, however, lacks the physical entity of the inner gimbal and consequently cannot be physically precessed into verticality. The method of leveling is nonetheless analogous if we consider the computational reference frame of the analytic platform to be the "alter ego" or counterpart of a physical inner gimbal. In general, strapdown leveling techniques can be divided into two categories: closed-loop leveling and open-loop leveling. These two techniques are quantitatively developed and discussed in this paper.     

Attitude Determination Via Nonlinear Filtering

The theory of nonlinear filtering has been applied to the problem of the attitude determination of a satellite. Two approximation methods have been studied with a view to practical implementation. Computer simulation results are included.     

Hydromagnetic motions in the magnetosphere

Following a brief specification and historical review of hydromagnetic motions in the magnetosphere, the principles of the governing and limiting processes are surveyed. A formal proof of the well-known hydromagnetic theorem is included, and its interpretation in terms of frozen fields is discussed. Some consequences of its application to the magnetosphere are then described, and the value of equipotentials as a means of illuminating the discussion is established. Departures from the hydromagnetic approximation are then evaluated, and their resultant currents described.The general principles find application in a number of processes: rotation, high-latitude circulation in quiet and disturbed conditions, more widespread convection under continuous dynamo action, and irregular motion both of an unstable and of a forced type. All these are reviewed, and one emergent point is emphasized: that direct evidence for the hydromagnetic motions is lacking, but that it can and should be sought.     

Comparisons between primrose lake (54°N, 110°W) ROCOB winds (20–60 km) and Saskatoon (52°N, 107°W) M. F. radar winds (60–110 km): 1978–1982

The development of the new CIRA will require the combination of winds from many sources, e.g. rockets (ROCOB) up to ～60 km, and radar winds ～60–110 km. Difficulties are that such rocket data have larger errors at 60–65 km, and tidal effects may become significant. Radar data for 60–80 km may also have tidal contamination, due to ? 16h of data per day: from 80–110 km tidal corrections are usually reliable.Comparisons are made between the unique Saskatoon MF radar set, which is continuous from mid 1978–1983, and the ROCOB data from Primrose Lake, which is only 340 km northwest. While the agreement is satisfactory, special care is required when matching the two regions: particular problems are the low rocket sampling rate, and the unexpectedly large amplitude of the diurnal tide. Important differences from the zonal winds of CIRA-72 emerge, especially in winter months. Meridional cross-sections differ from previous data models in the extent of the summer equatorward flow.     

The variability of stratospheric nitrogen compounds observed by LIMS in the winter of 1978–1979

The LIMS experiment was launched on the Nimbus 7 satellite for the purpose of sounding the vertical structure of temperature and key upper atmosphere trace gases on a global scale. The technique of thermal infrared limb sounding was used to obtain measurements of O₃, H₂O, NO₂, and HNO₃. LIMS collected data almost continuously from late October to late May over the latitude range from 64°S to 84°N. Two of the gases, NO₂ and HNO₃, are important elements in the NO_x chain of chemical reactions leading to ozone destruction. We will describe results for these gases in terms of zonal mean profiles and latitudinal distributions. The period selected for study is January–May 1979, when a major stratospheric warming occurred.     

Magnetic energy storage and conversion in the solar atmosphere

A review of the theoretical problems associated with preflare magnetic energy storage and conversion is presented. The review consists of three parts; preflare magnetic energy storage, magnetic energy conversion mechanisms, and preflare triggers. In Section 2, the relationship between magnetic energy storage and the electrodynamic coupling of the solar atmosphere is developed. By accounting for the electrodynamic coupling of the solar atmosphere, we are able to examine the fundamental problems associated with the concept of in situ versus remote magnetic-energy storage. Furthermore, this approach permits us to distinguish between the roles of local and global parameters in the storage process.Section 3 is focused on the conversion mechanisms that can explain, in principle, the rapid energy release of a flare. In addition, we discuss how electrodynamic coupling eventually dictates which mechanism(s) is responsible for releasing the stored magnetic energy, and how the global coupling dictates the final evolution of the relevant mechanism. Section 4 examines preflare triggers and Section 5, we examine the most promising directions for future research into the problem of magnetic-energy storage and conversion of the Sun.     

Stability of Gyro in a Vehicle Spinning with Uncertain Angular Velocity

The analysis of a single-axis rate gyroscope mounted in a vehicle which is spinning with uncertain angular velocity about the spin axis of the gyro is presented. The nonlinearity in the equation of motion of the gimbal is retained. Using circle criterion, it is shown that the gimbal motion is globally asymptotically stable if Nyquist plot of the linear transfer function of the gyro lies in the interior of a certain disk. A simple analytical relation for the selection of gyro parameters for stability is derived.     

Calculating Detection Probabilities for Systems Employing Noncoherent Integration

Cumulative probability distributions that occur in radar and sonar detection problems are calculated directly from the characteristic function by using a Fourier series. The error in the result is controlled by two parameters which can be adjusted to suit the application. The technique is applied to the problem of determining the detection performance of consecutive discrete Fourier transforms (DFTs) for a narrowband Gaussian signal with a rectangular spectrum. Since the characteristic function is used directly in its product form this technique does not suffer from the numerical problems associated with the partial fraction approach. The technique can handle many different problems in a single computational structure making it a valuable tool in system performance studies.     

Two-frequency radio occultation measurements with Venera-9 and Venera-10 orbiters

The experiment with two-frequency radio occultation measurements of the Venusian nightside ionosphere using the Venera-9 and 10 orbiters is described. The experiment is the first of a kind in which the radio link to one of the spacecraft is used to probe the ionosphere, while the other is measuring the variations in the integral electron number density along the path of radio ray propagation. The experiment has been designed to achieve the maximum possible accuracies in determining the parameters of the probed ionosphere using the bistatic two-frequency radio occultation method.