Ionospheric photoelectrons measured at geosynchronous orbit
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Authors
Laszakovits, John Samuel.
Subjects
Ionospheric photoelectrons
Plasmasphere
Electron spectra
Magnetospheric plasma analyzer (MPA)
Geosynchronous orbit
Plasmasphere
Electron spectra
Magnetospheric plasma analyzer (MPA)
Geosynchronous orbit
Advisors
Olsen, Richard Christopher
Date of Issue
1993-06
Date
June 1993
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
en_US
Abstract
Measurements of ions and electrons were made by the Los Alamos National Laboratory instrument, the Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer, onboard spacecraft 1989-046. Observations from five days indicated the presence of both field aligned electrons and equatorially trapped electrons. Correlation existed between occurrences and location in the magnetosphere. Field aligned electrons were measured in the plasmasphere during daylight. On two days, field aligned electrons were also noted in the midnight region of the magnetosphere. Field aligned electrons at energies between 1 and 50 eV were characterized. These electron's spectrum were shown to be similar in shape to the ionospheric photoelectron distribution. Conic distributions of photoelectrons were observed between 08:00 and 10:00 local time on days when both photoelectrons and equatorially trapped electrons were present. V sub parallel versus V sub perpendicular spectrograms clearly indicated that photoelectrons undergo perpendicular acceleration. Lack of any magnetic field measurements or collection of wave data prevented determining the source of the acceleration.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Department of Physics
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funding
Format
167 p.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.