The Earths Ionosphere

Although interesting in its own right, due to the ever-increasing use of satellites for communication and navigation, weather in the ionosphere is of great concern. Every such system uses trans-ionospheric propagation of radio waves, waves which must traverse the commonly turbulent ionosphere. Understanding this turbulence and predicting it are one of the major goals of the National Space Weather program. Acquiring such a prediction capability will rest on understanding the very topics of this book, the plasma physics and electrodynamics of the system. Fully updated to reflect advances in the field in the 20 years since the first edition published Explores the buffeting of the ionosphere from above by the sun and from below by the lower atmosphere Unique text appropriate both as a reference and for coursework

The Earth's Ionosphere: Plasma Physics and Electrodynamics emphasizes the study of plasma physics and electrodynamics of the ionosphere, including many aeronomical influences. The ionosphere is somewhat of a battleground between the earth's neutral atmosphere and the sun's fully ionized atmosphere, in which the earth is embedded. One of the challenges of ionosphere research is to know enough about these two vast fields of research to make sense out of ionospheric phenomena. This book provides insights into how these competing sources of mass, momentum, and energy compete for control of the ionosphere. Some of the topics discussed include the fundamentals of ionospheric plasma dynamics; equatorial plasma instabilities; high-latitude electrodynamics; and instabilities and structure in the high-latitude ionosphere. Throughout this text only the region above 90 km are discussed, ignoring the D region entirely. This publication is a good source of information for students and individuals conducting research on earth’s ionosphere.

Among the many works devoted to our space environment, this serious and objective book by Mr. Delobeau should occupy a special place. It has become rare for works on such a subject to be written by competent physicists who are not specialists in the use of space vehicles. While performing research on the ionosphere, Mr. Delobeau was directly involved with the terrestrial environment long before it became common to explore it with sounding rockets and satellites. His professional obligations no longer require him to study aeronomy, only his regular collaboration with a great scientific journal inspires him to keep up to date on this subject. He is particularly motiva ted by a disinterested appreciation of the information which he hopes to share with his readers. It is a sign of the times that the results of space research should no longer be confined to the circle of space technicians. All of the new tools available to the service of science, for example:-particle accelerators, magnetic resonance, electron microscopy, lasers - have entered the general arsenal following a period of adaptation. Like them, the rocket is now a classical instrument, and gives information even to those for whom it holds no interest in itself. This book was quite up-to-date when the author submitted his manuscript. Despite the efforts of the editor, this will no longer be completely true when it appears in print. There is scarcely any branch of science that evolves more rapidly than space research.

Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.