THE EVOLUTION OF AN ARTIFICIAL IONOSPHERIC PLASMA CLOUD AS STUDIED BY HF AND VHF RADAR

Abstract

A plasma cloud was created at an altitude of 94 km over Wallops Island by exploding a canister of a cesium compound, which had been fired from a 7-in. gun. This cloud was illuminated from NRL by hf and vhf radar. The results of coherent pulse doppler analysis of the cesium cloud signature indicate that the cloud evolved in a billowy manner, with turbulent eddies of about 10,000 sq m cross section appearing at several times within the nominal 70-sec duration of the signature. It was the presence of large-amplitude, specular echo components in the cloud signature that led to the suggested behavior of a cloud evolving in a billowy manner. The fact that these could be due instead to transient resonances in the plasma cloud cannot be completely discounted.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 03, 1969
Accession Number
AD0688412

Entities

People

  • J. R. Davis
  • S. R. Curley

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Altitude
  • Bandwidth
  • Doppler Effect
  • Electrons
  • Explosions
  • Explosives
  • Frequency Bands
  • Ionosphere
  • Measurement
  • Oscillators
  • Radar
  • Radar Cross Sections
  • Radar Signals
  • Radio Frequency
  • Signal Processing
  • Spectrum Analysis
  • Transmitters

Readers

  • Atmospheric Remote Sensing.
  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Radar Systems Engineering.