Results Of PLACES Data Analysis
Abstract
The results of analyses performed to support PLACES data reduction and data interpretation are presented. Beacon receiver measurements of the scattering of a 100 MHz pseudo-noise beacon signal BPSK modulated at a 10 MHz rate were made during an occultation by the structured IRIS ion cloud. The scattering produced features in the received St. George Island signal that are shown to be in good quantitative agreement with propagation effect predictions produced from an optically derived model of the ion cloud extent. The features in the received data are also in qualitative agreement with the optical features in a coincident St. George Island photograph. Neutral wind shear rate is determined in the optical analyses to be directed with a 351 deg azimuth with a 1.5 meter per second per kilometer of altitude magnitude. Aircraft propagation measurements of the JAN ion cloud reveal a steady decay of the TEC until the cloud effects vanish at roughly 200 minutes after release. The following mechanism is proposed to explain late time barium cloud decay: Barium ions are removed from the ion cloud as current carriers and are replaced by molecular air ions which quickly recombine. The mechanism is found to be highly efficient. The kHz frequency spurs in the NRL density probe data from JAN are briefly investigated. The spur frequency is found to have no clear-cut dependence on local density, is not confined to the ion cloud region, and at times two spurs are visible in the data.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA130933
Entities
People
- C. W. Prettie