A STUDY OF IONOSPHERIC ABSORPTION PRODUCED BY SOLAR COSMIC RAYS

Technical Report · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1961

OSTI ID:4738206

Weir, Jr, R A

The absorption of cosmic radio noise in the lower ionosphere due to the arrival of solar cosmic rays has been calculated for several locations at the high magnetic latitudes. The calculation is made in three parts; the volume production rate of electrons from ionization, the equilibrium electron density resulting from the competition between production and recombination processes, and the absorption of electromagnetic radiation passing through the ionized region. The calculation is made for proton energy spectra in the form of power law as observed by balloon-borne detectors following large solar flares. The calculated absorption is compared with observations obtalned by riometers (relative ionospheric opacity meter) at Point Barrow, Fort Yukon, College, and Farewell, Alaska. For the solar proton event of July 14, 1959, the calculated absorption based on balloon data does not agree in magnitude nor latitude variation with the observations obtained by the Alaskan riometers. The lack of agreement in absolute magnitude indicates that the atmospheric coefficients used in obtaining the equilibrium electron density are in error. In particular, the collisional detachment as well as electron attachment coefficients appear to require considerable revision. The lack of agreement in the latitude variation substantiates observations at rocket altitude that indicate that the power law energy spectrum flattens considerably at proton energies below 100 Mev. 32 references. (auth)

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley, CA (US). Lawrence Radiation Lab.
• NSA Number: NSA-17-013295
• OSTI ID: 4738206
• Report Number(s): AFOSR-418
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-63
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

PHYSICS
ABSORPTION
BACKGROUND
BIBLIOGRAPHY
COSMIC RADIATION
DISTRIBUTION
EARTH
ELECTRONS
ENERGY
ENERGY RANGE
ERRORS
INSTRUMENTS
ION RECOMBINATION
IONIZATION
IONOSPHERE
LATITUDE EFFECT
LEVELS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MEV RANGE
NUMERICALS
PRODUCTION
PROTONS
RADIO WAVES
RIOMETERS
SOLAR FLARES
SPACE
SPECTRA
SUN
ZONES