Joule heating investigations using the Sondrestrom radar and DMSP satellites. Final report, 10 December 1989-9 May 1990

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5931581

Watermann, J; de la Beaujardiere, O

The objective of our study was to cross-validate Joule heating rates derived from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F7 observations through comparison with incoherent scatter radar measurements from Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland, In spite of obvious difficulties encountered within localized and dynamic structures such as discrete auroral arcs, where electric field and Pederson current estimates did not match, good agreement was found within relatively stable structures like the poleward edge of the diffuse aurora. Unrelated to spatial and temporal ambiguity problems, a systematic discrepancy in a summer daytime Pedersen conductance calculations from spacecraft and radar data was found. Although the conditions for comparison were generally not optimal because the temporal and spatial coincidences between spacecraft and radar measurements were not perfect, 50% of the cases examined were in good agreement. Possible error source for the remaining cases of disagreement are identified and explanations for the disagreement are offered. The necessity of further efforts to cross validate measurements of ionospheric parameters is emphasized and ways for improvements of the comparison method are suggested.

• Research Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5931581
• Report Number(s): AD-A-227425/6/XAB; CNN: F19628-87-K-0006
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AURORAE
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CURRENTS
DIFFUSION
DISTRIBUTION
DOCUMENT TYPES
DYNAMICS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRIC HEATING
ERRORS
GREENLAND
HEATING
IONOSPHERE
JOULE HEATING
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MECHANICS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
PLASMA HEATING
PROGRESS REPORT
RADAR
RANGE FINDERS
RESISTANCE HEATING
SATELLITES
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
STABILITY
TESTING
US DOD
US ORGANIZATIONS
VALIDATION