The Earth's Plasmasphere

by J. F. Lemaire , K. I. Gringauz , With contributions by D. L. Carpenter , V. Bassolo

• ISBN13: 9780521675550
• ISBN10: 0521675553
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-29
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is the first monograph to describe the historical development of ideas concerning the plasmasphere by the pioneering researchers themselves. The plasmasphere is a cold thermal plasma cloud encircling the Earth, terminating abruptly at a radial distance of 30,000 km over a sharp discontinuity known as the plasmapause. The volume commences with an account of the difficulties met in USSR by Gringauz to publish his early discoveries from Soviet rocket measurements, and the contemporaneous breakthroughs by Carpenter in the USA from ground-based whistler measurements. The authors then bring our picture of the plasmasphere up-to-date by presenting experimental and observational results of the past three decades, and mathematical and physical theories proposed to explain its formation. The volume will be invaluable for researchers in space physics, and will also appeal to those interested in the history of science.

Table of Contents

Preface

Foreword

Introduction

1. Discovery of the plasmasphere and initial studies of its properties

2. Electromagnetic sounding of the plasmasphere

3. Plasmasphere measurements from spacecraft

4. A global description of the plasmasphere

5. Theoretical aspects related to the plasmasphere

Epilogue

References

Index.