Radio observations of Venus and the interpretations

The radio observations of Venus are reviewed and compared with theoretical microwave spectra computed for a variety of models of the Venusian environment. The models considered are (a) a CO₂-N₂ atmosphere, (b) an atmosphere of dust (the aeolosphere model), and (c) a cloud model with various loss mechanisms in the cloud. The effect of polarization on the surface emissivity has been included in all the computations. It is shown how the radio observations place limits upon the acceptable models, for example, the density and size of dust particles required in the aeolosphere model. It is shown how some models place severe restrictions on radar observations at short centimeter wavelengths, thereby emphasizing the importance of such experiments. These same models show that the Mariner II observations can not be interpreted in terms of surface phenomena and provide a new interpretation for the microwave phase effect.This work was supported in part by the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force under Contract DA36-039-AMC-03200(E); and in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grants NsG-250-62 and NsG-419).     

Modified Generalized Sign Test Processor for 2-D Radar

The modified generalized sign test processor is a nonparametric, adaptive detector for 2-D search radars. The detector ranks a sample under test with its neighboring samples and integrates (on a pulse-to-pulse basis) the ranks with a two-pole filter. A target is declared when the integrated output exceeds two thresholds. The first threshold is fixed and yields a 10-6 probability of false alarm when the neighboring samples are independent and identically distributed. The second threshold is adaptive and maintains a low false-alarm rate when the integrated neighboring samples are correlated and when there are nonhomogeneities, such as extraneous targets, in the neighboring cells. Using Monte Carlo techniques, probability of false-alarm results, probability of detection curves, and angular accuracy curves have been generated for this detector. The detector was built and PPI photographs are used to indicate the detector's performance when the radar is operated over land clutter.     

Data Association and Track Management for the Gaussian Mixture Probability Hypothesis Density Filter

The Gaussian mixture probability hypothesis density (GM-PHD) recursion is a closed-form solution to the probability hypothesis density (PHD) recursion, which was proposed for jointly estimating the time-varying number of targets and their states from a sequence of noisy measurement sets in the presence of data association uncertainty, clutter, and miss-detection. However the GM-PHD filter does not provide identities of individual target state estimates, that are needed to construct tracks of individual targets. In this paper, we propose a new multi-target tracker based on the GM-PHD filter, which gives the association amongst state estimates of targets over time and provides track labels. Various issues regarding initiating, propagating and terminating tracks are discussed. Furthermore, we also propose a technique for resolving identities of targets in close proximity, which the PHD filter is unable to do on its own.     

Characteristics of Icy Surfaces

The surfaces of the Solar System’s icy satellites show an extraordinary variety of morphological features, which bear witness to exchange processes between the surface and subsurface. In this paper we review the characteristics of surface features on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Using data from spacecraft missions, we discuss the detailed morphology, size, and topography of cryovolcanic, tectonic, aeolian, fluvial, and impact features of both large moons and smaller satellites.     

Broadening of Fe X (6374 Å) profiles above the limb in a coronal hole

Profiles of the visible Fe X (6374 Å) coronal emission line as a function of height above the limb were obtained out to 1.16 solar radii in a coronal hole using the NSO/Sacramento Peak Observatory Coronagraph, Universal Spectrograph and a CCD camera. These are the first coronal line profiles obtained as a function of height in a coronal hole from the ground. Analysis of the line widths suggests a large component of nonthermal broadening which increases with height ranging from 40 to 60 km/s, depending upon the assumed temperature or thermal component of the profile.     

Pioneer and Voyager observations of large-scale spatial and temporal variations in the solar wind

The Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, and Voyager 2 spacecraft were launched in 1972, 1974, and 1977, respectively. While these three spacecraft are all at compartively low heliographic latitudes compared with Ulysses, their observation span almost two solar cycles, a range of heliocentric distances from 1 to 57 AU, and provide a unique insight into the long-term variability of the global structure of the solar wind. We examine the spatial and temporal variation of average solar wind parameters and fluxes. Our obsevations suggest that the global structure of the outer heliosphere during the declining phase of the solar cycle at heliographic latitudes up to 17.5°N was charaterized by two competing phenomena: 1) a large-scale increase of solar wind density, temperature, mass flux, dynamic pressure, kinetic energy flux, and thermal enery flux with heliographic latitude, similar to the large-scale latitudinal gradient of velocity seen in IPS observations, 2) a small-scale decrease in velocity and temperature, and increase in density near the heliospheric current sheet, which is associated with a band of low speed, low temperature, and high density solar wind similar to that observed in the inner heliosphere.     

Reconnection on open field lines ahead of coronal mass ejections

Plasma and magnetic field signatures from 29 November 1990 indicate that the Ulysses spacecraft passed through a series of interplanetary structures that were most likely formed by magnetic reconnection on open field lines ahead of a coronal mass ejection (CME). This reconnection changed the magnetic topology of the upstream region by converting normal open interplanetary magnetic field into a pair of regions: one magnetically disconnected from the Sun and the other, a tongue, connected back to the Sun at both ends. This process provides a new method for producing both heat flux dropouts and counterstreaming suprathermal electron signatures in interplanetary space. In this paper we expand upon the 29 November case study and argue that reconnection ahead of CMEs should be less common at high heliolatitudes.     

SWE,a comprehensive plasma instrument for the WIND spacecraft

The Solar Wind Experiment (SWE) on the WIND spacecraft is a comprehensive, integrated set of sensors which is designed to investigate outstanding problems in solar wind physics. It consists of two Faraday cup (FC) sensors; a vector electron and ion spectrometer (VEIS); a strahl sensor, which is especially configured to study the electron strahl close to the magnetic field direction; and an on-board calibration system. The energy/charge range of the Faraday cups is 150 V to 8 kV, and that of the VEIS is 7 V to 24.8 kV. The time resolution depends on the operational mode used, but can be of the order of a few seconds for 3-D measurements. Key parameters which broadly characterize the solar wind positive ion velocity distribution function will be made available rapidly from the GGS Central Data Handling Facility.