EXPLORATORY STUDY FOR THE PREDICTION OF NUCLEAR BURST EFFECTS ON VLF SYSTEMS (PHYSICAL MECHANISMS),
Abstract
This report summarizes work which is being done in the continuation of an exploratory study of nuclear burst effects on VLF Systems. This work involves a study of particle sources, charged particle migration, and ionospheric effects having to do with electron production in the atmosphere. Sudden changes in VLF propagation characteristics, presumably due to increased D-layer ionization, were observed to occur along VLF paths whose nearest points lie thousands of kilometers away from the location of a highaltitude nuclear burst. It is proposed that this ionization may be caused by neutrons which were transported by multiple scatterings around the earth and well into the shadow zone where they deposit part of their kinetic energy through collisions with nitrogen nuclei. Numerical results are presented which, though based on a highly simplified model program, encourage further detailed calculations. The possibility of observationally distinguishing between the transport mechanism and the neutron decay mechanism is also discussed. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0451325
Entities
People
- A. H. Foderaro
- A. M. Jacobs
- C. F. Sechrist
- E. J. Oelbermann
- J. M. Musser
Organizations
- HRB Systems