Transverse Motion of High Speed Barium Clouds in the Ionosphere.

Abstract

Simulation results, based on a field-line-integrated, 2D, electrostatic model, are presented for the motion of a barium cloud injected transverse to the geomagnetic field in the ionosphere at high speeds. It is found that the gross evolution of injected plasma clouds depends sensitively on the initial conditions, as well as the nature of the background coupling. For a massive (M sub O = approx 10 kg), orbital (V sub O = approx 5 km/sec) release in the F region (350-450 km), we find that plasma clouds can drift tens of kilometers across the magnetic field in tens of seconds after ionization.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 18, 1985
Accession Number
ADA159058

Entities

People

  • H. G. Mitchell
  • J. A. Fedder
  • Joseph D. Huba
  • Steven T.P. Zalesak

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Altitude
  • Couplings
  • Electric Fields
  • Equations
  • High Altitude
  • High Latitudes
  • Ionization
  • Ionosphere
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Military Research
  • Personal Information Managers
  • Physics
  • Physics Laboratories
  • Simulations
  • Space Sciences
  • Stratified Fluids
  • Transverse

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.

Technology Areas

  • Space