Daytime Tracking of a High-Altitude Vapor Trail

Best, G. T.

doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1970)027<0979:dtoaha>2.0.co;2

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…During full daylight the sky brightness is lo3 or more times that at twilight. Even so, Best (1970) and Bedinger (1970) have found it possible to track lithium clouds in daylight by using instrumentation having a fractional-Angstrom wavelength bandpass to discriminate against the background. Nevertheless, virtually all measurements to date of large-scale mass transport and turbulence in the high atmosphere by the chemical release technique have been acquired during the twilight and night hours.…”

Section: Aluminium Releasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical releases in the ionosphere

Davis

1979

Rep. Prog. Phys.

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Made possible by the availability of rockets for research purposes in the late 1950s, ionospheric releases of chemicals and high-speed charged particles to form tracers or perturbations have contributed much information on the ionosphere, thermosphere and magnetosphere. Trail releases of sodium, lithium, aluminium and nitric oxide have enabled detailed observation of neutral mass motions at altitudes above 50 km. Development of the thermite barium release technique enabled observation of both neutral and ion motions, the latter leading rather directly to determination of ionospheric electric fields. Use of shaped charges detonated at altitudes above 400 km has allowed ejection of barium vapour at speeds greater than the Earth's escape velocity to permit tracing of magnetic-field lines, the effects of field-aligned currents and simultaneous observation of electric field at different altitudes on a geomagnetic field line. Ejection of electrons of energy 1-40 keV from rockets has been useful for studying the propagation of particle beams, for tracing magnetic-field lines and examining the effects of electron impact upon the high atmosphere.

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Section: Aluminium Releasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical releases in the ionosphere

Davis

1979

Rep. Prog. Phys.

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“…Chemical trail experiments by rocket are still limited to twilight hours, though the experiments will be done in daytime in future (Best, 1970). The ambiguity of our knowledge of this region may present a shaky foundation on which to discuss the upper thermosphere tide.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wave dynamics in the thermosphere: I: Tidal motion

Katō

1971

Space Sci Rev

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The atmospheric tides, their transmission and excitation in the thermosphere, are discussed in reviewing various investigations in this field. We are still fairly ignorant on the subjects and facing various unsolved problems although there is an established link between the theory and the observation in the dynamo region, the lower boundary of the thermosphere. As to the middle and upper thermosphere the observed data are scanty and only those obtained by satellite drag are available; the theoretical approach is very complicated because of viscosity, thermal conduction, hydromagnetic forces and non-linearity, all of which are effective above certain heights. Moreover, the thermosphere couples mainly with the lower atmosphere, this coupling having been considered only in a very simplified way. Another coupling is between thermal excitation and the resultant motion, the coupling of which has never been considered; thermal excitation has been discussed on a given input. International cooperation in the observations is of vital importance for future studies. New developments of observation techniques are desirable.

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