Total electron content variations in equatorial anomaly region

Diurnal variations in the total electron content (TEC) at Makerere University (00°19′N, 32°40′E, Geo Dip −22°), Uganda, have been investigated using a NovAtel GSV400B GPS receiver for the year 2010. The highest TEC values occurred from 13h00 to 17h00 local time (LT) throughout the year, with the highest values being exhibited during equinoctial months. In addition, there was some correlation between this high TEC and the moderate storms that occurred in 2010. These high TEC values have been attributed to the solar EUV ionization coupled with the upward vertical ExB drift. Nighttime enhancements were also found to be seasonally dependant, attaining maximum values during equinoctial months. These results were also compared with modeled TEC values by the IRI-2007 model. The modeled values were in good agreement with the measured values except for these two points: (1) the model had a short-fall in predicting the nighttime enhancements; and (2) the model’s minimum TEC did not coincide with the measured minimum in most of the months. Observed TEC depletions were found to correlate with an increase in the S₄ index and have been identified as a manifestation of the plasma density depletions of the equatorial origin.     

Variability study of ionospheric total electron content at crest of equatorial anomaly in China from 1997 to 2007

The variation of TEC data at Wuhan station (geographic coordinate: 30.5°N, 114.4°E; geomagnetic coordinate: 19.2°N, 183.8°E) at crest of equatorial anomaly in China from January 1997 to December 2007 were analyzed. Variability with solar activity, annual, semiannual, diurnal and seasonal variation were also analyzed. The MSIS00 model and ISR model were used to analyze the possible mechanisms of the variabilities found in the results. The TEC data in 1997 and 2001 deduced from another crest station Xiamen (geographic coordinate: 24.4°N, 118.1°E; geomagnetic coordinate: 13.2°N, 187.4°E) were used to contrast. Analysis results show that long-term variations of TEC at Xiamen station are mainly controlled by the variations of solar activities. Typical diurnal variation behaves as a minimum of the TEC in the pre-dawn hours around 05:00–06:00LT and a maximum on the afternoon hours around 13:00–15:00LT. Some features like the semiannual anomaly and winter anomaly in TEC have been reported. The anomaly may be the result of common action of the electric field over the magnetic equatorial and the [O/N₂] at the crest station.     

Improved model of ionosphere variability and study for long-term statistical characteristics

Ionospheric variability is influenced by many factors, such as solar radiation, neutral atmosphere composition, and geomagnetic disturbances. Mainly characterized by the total electron content (TEC) and electron density, the climatology of the ionosphere features temporal and spatial changes. Establishing a multivariant regression model helps substantially in better understanding the ionosphere characteristics and their long-term variability. In this paper, an improvement of the existing ionosphere multivariate linear fitting regression model is proposed and investigated using data from both the ionosonde and the global ionosphere map (GIM) derived from ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations. The proposed method gives more consideration to the impact of the solar activity and adds modeling of the annual periodic fluctuations and half-year periodic fluctuations for the F10.7 index. The improved model is verified to have a better correlation with the real observations and can help reduce the calculation uncertainty. Moreover, the proposed model is used to evaluate the fitting accuracy of the GIMs produced by five authorized data analysis centers from the International GNSS Service (IGS). The results show that there is a fixing hole in the North America region for the GIM model where the correlation between the GIM and the proposed model always returns lower values compared to other places.     

A preliminary study of the single crest phenomenon in total electron content (TEC) in the equatorial anomaly region around 120°E longitude between 1999 and 2012

The diurnal variations in total electron content (TEC) in the equatorial ionisation anomaly (EIA) region are not always represented by two crests on both sides of the magnetic equator. Sometimes, only an obvious single crest is evident at equatorial and low latitudes. In this paper, we focus on analysis of the morphological features of the single crest phenomenon in TEC around 120°E longitude during geomagnetic quiet days (Kp < 4₋). The variations in TEC are also compared with morphological parameters (foF2 and hmF2) derived from the International Reference Ionosphere extended to Plasmasphere (IRI–Plas) model. Our results show that the single crest phenomenon occurs mainly on days with extremely low solar activity, while the corresponding F2 layer critical frequency showed obvious asymmetry, or even only a single peak.     

A fast tearing mode instability driven by agyrotropic electron pressure

The collisionless plasma environment at the current sheet of the Earth’s magnetotail is subjected to fast dynamic evolutions such as tearing instability. By considering agyrotropic pressure for electron and ion components of a collisionless plasma, we analytically investigate the dynamics of tearing mode instability, in which, breaking the frozen-in condition can either be provided by the electron inertia or by agyrotropic electron pressure. A set of linearized Hall-Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations describes the evolution of tearing mode in a sheared force-free field. The presented scaling analysis shows that if the plasma-β$\beta$ exceeds a specified value, then the main mechanism of magnetic reconnection process is the nongyrotropic electron pressure. In this regime, the role played by agyrotropic ion pressure inside the reconnection layer is out of significance. Therefore, the electron-MHD framework, adequately, describes the dynamics of tearing instability with a growth rate which is much faster compared to the cases with a dominated bulk inertia or a gyrotropic plasma pressure.     

O2 evolution and cyclic electron flow around photosystem I in long-term ground batch culture of Euglena gracilis

Based on the purpose of better exploring the function of green producers in the closed aquatic biological life support system, the condition of dynamic O₂ evolution and performance of cyclic electron flow around photosystem I (CEF-PSI) in long-term ground batch culture of Euglena gracilis were studied, the relationship between linear electron flow (LEF) and CEF-PSI was revealed, the function of CEF-PSI was investigated. Excellent consistency in O₂ evolution pattern was observed in cultures grown in both closed and open containers, O₂ evolution was strictly suppressed in phase 1, but the rate of it increased significantly in phase 2. CEF-PSI was proposed to be active during the whole course of cultivation, even in the declining phase 3, it still operated at the extent of 47–55%. It is suggested that the relationship between LEF and CEF-PSI is not only competition but also reciprocity. CEF-PSI was proposed to contribute to the considerable growth in phase 1; it was also suggested to play an important protective role against photosystem II (PSII) photoinhibition at the greatly enhanced level (approximately 80–95%) on the 2nd day. Our results in this research suggest that E. gracilis had very particular photosynthetic characteristics, the strict O₂ evolution suppression in the initial culture phase might be a special light acclimation behavior, and CEF-PSI could be an important mechanism involved in this kind of adaptation to the changeable light environment.     

Spectral line broadening by relativistic electrons in plasmas: Collision operator

In the present work we compute the real part of the impact collision operator for the electron broadening of ion lines in plasmas, taking into account relativistic effects in the dynamics of the perturbing electron. Specifically two relativistic effects are included: The modification of the trajectory due to non-Newtonian mechanics and the modification of the velocity distribution (Maxwell–Juttner). The results are compared to the non-relativistic case.     

固体火箭发动机喷流中电子密度的实验研究

研究如何利用固体火箭发动机工作产生的非均匀等离子体喷流流场,改变飞行器的目标光电特性是导弹等飞行器突防的一个重要课题.对此进行了一些初步的探索性实验,获得了两种不同固体火箭发动机喷流流场电子密度的有关数据,其中双基推进剂约为109cm-3量级,复合推进剂10^10～10^11cm^-3量级.试验表明,将固体火箭发动机作为等离子体发生器是一种行之有效的方法,可以获得需要的电子密度值.     

电子束焊接熔池流场数值模拟研究

基于电子束焊接"钉型"焊缝特征,建立了高斯面和旋转高斯衰减体复合热源模型,采用ANSYS FLOTRAN CFD有限元软件,对焊接熔池流场进行了数值模拟,研究了熔池内液态金属在温度场作用下涡漩流动过程,电子束、熔池、液态金属蒸汽之间相互作用关系,电子束匙孔效应、匙孔壁能量传递方式,熔深方向液态金属流动机理等;将316L不锈钢热物性参数输入复合热源模型,通过仿真计算,得到了316L不锈钢焊接工艺规范,即加速电压为60 kV,电子束流为30 mA,焊接速度为8 mm/s,采用该规范焊接的316L不锈钢试件焊缝拉伸强度为425 MPa,满足设计要求。通过对比数值模拟与实际焊接结果表明:模拟熔池形貌与实际焊缝形貌一致,数值计算结果与焊接试验结果相吻合,从而证明复合热源模型是正确和适用的。     

基于经验模态分解的地球同步轨道高能电子通量预报

在磁暴恢复相期间,大量相对论(高能)电子从磁层的外辐射带渗透到地球同步轨道区.其中> 2 MeV的高能电子能够穿透卫星表面并聚积在材料内部,导致卫星无法正常运行或完全损坏.磁暴期间的高能电子通量变化的非平稳与非线性特征十分明显.通过实验发现,经验模态分解法能够极大地降低高能电子通量非平稳性问题造成的预报影响.以2008-2009年的数据作为训练集,2010-2013年数据作为测试集.结果表明:2010-2013年的预报率约为0.84;在太阳活动较为复杂的2013年,预报率达到0.81.引入经验模态分解后预报效率得到显著提高.