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Initial Results from the Vector Electric Field Investigation on the C/NOFS SatelliteInitial results are presented from the Vector Electric Field Investigation (VEFI) on the Air Force Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite, a mission designed to understand, model, and forecast the presence of equatorial ionospheric irregularities. The VEFI instrument includes a vector DC electric field detector, a fixed-bias Langmuir probe operating in the ion saturation regime, a flux gate magnetometer, an optical lightning detector, and associated electronics including a burst memory. The DC electric field detector has revealed zonal and meridional electric fields that undergo a diurnal variation, typically displaying eastward and outward-directed fields during the day and westward and downward-directed fields at night. In general, the measured DC electric field amplitudes are in the 0.5-2 mV/m range, corresponding to I3 x B drifts of the order of 30-150 m/s. What is surprising is the high degree of large-scale (10's to 100's of km) structure in the DC electric field, particularly at night, regardless of whether well-defined spread-F plasma density depletions are present. The spread-F density depletions and corresponding electric fields that have been detected thus far have displayed a preponderance to appear between midnight and dawn. Associated with the narrow plasma depletions that are detected are broad spectra of electric field and plasma density irregularities for which a full vector set of measurements is available for detailed study. On some occasions, localized regions of low frequency (< 8 Hz) magnetic field broadband irregularities have been detected, suggestive of filamentary currents, although there is no one-to-one correspondence of these waves with the observed plasma density depletions, at least within the data examined thus far. Finally, the data set includes a wide range of ELF/VLF/HF waves corresponding to a variety of plasma waves, in particular banded ELF hiss, whistlers, and lower hybrid wave turbulence triggered by lightning-induced sferics. The VEFI data set represents a treasure trove of measurements that are germane to numerous fundamental aspects of the electrodynamics and irregularities inherent to the Earth's low latitude ionosphere.
Document ID
20090012446
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Pfaff, R.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Rowland, D.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Acuna, M.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Le, G.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Farrell, W.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Holzworth, R.
(Washington Univ. Seattle, WA, United States)
Wilson, G.
(Air Force Research Lab. Hanscom AFB, MA, United States)
Burke, W.
(Air Force Research Lab. Hanscom AFB, MA, United States)
Freudenreich, H.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Bromund, K.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Liebrecht, C.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Martin, S.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Kujawski, J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Uribe, P.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Fourre, R.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
McCarthy, M.
(Washington Univ. Seattle, WA, United States)
Maynard, N.
(New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH, United States)
Berthelier, J.-J.
(Centre des Etudes Terrestraire et Planetaire Saint Maur des Fosses, France)
Steigies, C.
(Kiel Univ. Germany)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
January 5, 2009
Subject Category
Electronics And Electrical Engineering
Meeting Information
Meeting: National Radio Science Meeting/Union of Radio Science
Location: Boulder, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: January 5, 2009
End Date: January 8, 2009
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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