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Echo III: The study of electric and magnetic fields with conjugate echoes from artificial electron beams injected into the auroral zone ionosphere
Author(s) -
Hendrickson R. A.,
Winckler J. R.,
Arnoldy R. L.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl003i007p00409
Subject(s) - physics , ionosphere , rocket (weapon) , computational physics , geophysics , field line , magnetosphere , electric field , electron , plasma , aerospace engineering , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
The third in a series of rocket flights carrying large electron guns for electron beam‐plasma analysis and magnetosphere probing has been carried out from the Poker Flat rocket range near Fairbanks, Alaska at L=6. Echoes from the injected electrons mirroring at the southern hemisphere conjugate point were observed on the rocket by particle detectors and in the nearby ionosphere by photometers on board the rocket. The bounce time and drift velocities of the echoes were measured using the known trajectory and aspect of the rocket. Ionospheric electric fields near the rocket were inferred from drift motion of the ambient ion population measured by two techniques, electrostatic analyzers on board the rocket and incoherent backscatter radar from the ground. Using model magnetic fields, gradient and curvature drift and bounce times have been computed under the conditions appropriate for this experiment. Assuming that field lines are equipotentials, the addition of the observed ionospheric electric field drift to the model‐dependent gradient and curvature drift predicts a net echo drift velocity that is in agreement with the observations, provided the Mead‐Fairfield 1972‐73 model is used. The observed bounce time constitutes an independent model check and is in better agreement with the Olson‐Pfitzer model. Echo spatial and temporal fluctuations reflected the turbulence associated with the diffuse aurora into which the rocket was launched.