Rocket potential measurements during electron beam injection into the ionosphere

The results of measurements made by the retarding potential analyzer of electron fluxes recorded during electron beam injection ～0.5A current pulses and energy 15 or 27 keV during the ARAKS experiment are analyzed. The relatively low rocket potential (～150 V) observed is explained by the formation of a highly conducting region near the rocket. Such a region can be formed via intense plasma waves generated by the beam. This mechanism also explains the heating of the electrons near the rocket. Measurements of electron fluxes with energies of 1 to 3 keV and estimate based on the beam plasma discharge theory agree very well.     

Results of ZARNITZA-2, a rocket experiment on artificial electron beam injection in the ionosphere

The rocket experiment ZARNITZA-2 on artificial electron beam injection in the ionosphere was carried out on September 11, 1975. Great attention was paid to the study of phenomena occurring in the near-rocket region. The results of the experiment are discussed in terms of a beam plasma discharge.     

Old tail lobes effect on the solar-wind – Magnetosphere energy transport for the 27 August 2001 substorm

The magnetic flux of tail lobes Ψ is divided in two parts of comparable values Ψ₁ and Ψ₀₂, with the first that appears during substorm and the second, observed before substorm start. The first was named “new magnetic flux”, the second – “old magnetic flux”. The first, Ψ₁, is known to play a definitive role in the energy transport from the solar wind into the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere system, but the role of Ψ₀₂ in this transport is not well known. From the 27 August 2001 substorm data we study the involvement in the above transport process of the old flux Ψ₀₂. This involvement is observed in the polar cap (PC) area, which existed prior to the substorm and is called respectively “the old PC”. In this study, as distinct from earlier works, we use the balance equation of the energy stored in magnetosphere and energy consumed. Activation of the old PC magnetic flux Ψ₀₂ was found to increase the energy input by ∼85% in the event under consideration.     

Large-scale electric fields and currents and related geomagnetic variations in the quiet plasmasphere

At the end of the sixties it became obvious that two-dimensional dynamo models can explain nearly all facts, which had been found morphologically for mean annual Sq-fields. During the recent decade new or improved methods to measure electric fields (e.g. incoherent scatter facilities) and to investigate great data files have been developed. New informations received with these methods about the existence of regular variations of the Sq-field in dependence on season and universal time and about the electric field have been summarized in Section 2. All attempts to describe also these variations with a two-dimensional dynamo model did not lead to any success, but showed a strong theoretical over-estimation of the asymmetries. Therefore, it must be concluded that three-dimensional plasmaspheric current systems, taking into consideration the coupling between both hemispheres along the high-conducting magnetic field lines, are needed in order to explain the regular variations of the Sq -field. The basic equations for two- and three-dimensional dynamo models, different methods for the solution of these equations and the resulting models from different authors are compiled and discussed (Section 3).Based on all morphological and theoretical results a plasmaspheric-ionospheric current system has been constructed and some properties of the plasmaspheric field-aligned current distribution, have been derived.     

Solar wind inhomogeneity front inclination effect on properties of front-caused long-period geomagnetic pulsations

On the basis of data of two networks of Canadian stations and also of extra- and intra-magnetospheric satellites, daytime long-period geomagnetic pulsations related to sudden impulses of the dynamic pressure of the solar wind (SW) are studied. The influence of SW parameters, interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), and geomagnetic activity on the propagation direction, polarization, and amplitude of pulsations is discussed. It is shown that at arrival front of the solar wind inhomogeneity at the place of its tangency, surface oscillations within the range of Pc5 geomagnetic pulsations are excited on the magnetopause, and they run away from the tangency point to the nighttime side with increasing amplitude and opposite polarization. The pulsation properties and the position of the running-away point are explained by the mechanism of their excitation on the magnetopause by the inclined front of the inhomogeneity and also by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Increases in SW density observed ahead of the shock front were able to cause pulsation excitation onsets prior to the sudden storms commencement (SSC) front arrival. The observed increase in geomagnetic activity after SSC could change the direction of pulsation propagation from anti-sunward to sunward. The analysis of oscillation spectra made it possible to assume that pulsations with a frequency of the order of 2.5 mHz are of a global character, they are not related to oscillations in SW and are excited by sharp SSC fronts.