Open AccessGeophysical researches with the orbits of the first satellites
Author(s) -
KingHele D. G.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1983.tb01868.x
Subject(s) - geophysics , atmosphere (unit) , gravitational field , geology , harmonics , geodesy , scale (ratio) , field (mathematics) , physics , meteorology , astronomy , mathematics , quantum mechanics , voltage , pure mathematics
Summary. This paper offers a partial view of the results of analysing the orbits of the first satellites, particularly Sputniks 1 and 2 . The topics discussed include the zonal harmonics in the Earth's gravitational field and three features of the upper atmosphere ‐ the air density and its variations; the scale height and temperature; and the zonal winds. The view presented is ‘partial’ in two senses: (a) because it is far from complete, and (b) because it has a personal bias.