Abstract—The occurrence and evolution of plasma fluxes in the ionosphere is one of the factors that have a significant impact on the dynamics and state of the geophysical environment. The study of plasma and magnetohydrodynamic effects arising from the motion of plasma jets in real space is complicated by the scale of the phenomenon and the complex nature of the background environment, which is a non-stationary system of interacting neutral and partially or completely magnetized charged particles. The creation of theoretical models of this phenomenon is also completely unsolved scientific task. Under these conditions, controlled ionospheric plasma experiments are of great importance. The results of active rocket experiments obtained over the past few decades have made it possible to study the processes of magnetohydrodynamic interaction between a high-velocity plasma and the geomagnetic field, the generation of electromagnetic and MHD waves, optical radiation in the visible, UV and IR ranges, background gas ionization, the emergence of complex systems of electric fields and currents, the acceleration of charged particles, and other phenomena. The article discusses the current physical concepts developed from the analysis of the available experimental data, as well as the tasks and possibilities of new active experiments.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present, and Future, Delzanno, G.L., Borovsky, J.E., and Mishin, E.V., Eds., Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3389/978-2-88963-659-4
Adushkin, V.V., Zetser, Yu.I., Kiselev, Yu.N., Nemtchinov, I.V., and Khristoforov, B.D., Active geophysical rocket experiments with injection of a high-velocity plasma jet in the ionosphere, Dokl. Akad. Nauk, 1993, vol. 331, no. 4, pp. 486–489.
Adushkin, V.V., Zetser, Yu.I., Zotov, N.I., Kiselev, Yu.N., Khristoforov, B.D., Yur’ev, V.L., and Poklad, Yu.V., RF Patent for Invention no. 2144685, 2000.
Alfven, H., Cosmic Plasma, Dordrecht: Springer, 1981.
Angelopoulos, V., Baumjohann, W., Kennel, C., Coronti, F.V., Kivelson, M.G., Pellat, R., Walker, R., Luehr, H., and Paschmann, G., Bursty bulk flows in the inner central plasma sheet, J. Geophys. Res., 1992, vol. 97, no. A4, pp. 4027–4040.
Baumjohann, W., Paschmann, G., and Lühr, H., Characteristics of high-speed ion flows in the plasma sheet, J. Geophys. Res., 1990, vol. 95, no. A4, pp. 3801–3809.
Bernhardt, P.A., Probing the magnetosphere using chemical releases from the combined release and radiation effects satellite, Phys. Fluids, 1992, vol. B4, no. 7, pp. 2249–2256.
Bernhardt, P.A., Roussel-Dupre, R.A., Pongratz, M.B., Haerendel, G., Valenzuela, A., Gurnett, D. A., and Anderson, R.R., Observation and theory of the AMPTE magnetotail barium releases, J. Geophys. Res., 1987, vol. 92, no. A6, pp. 5777–5794.
Borovsky, J.E. and Bonnell, J., The dc electrical coupling of flow vortices and flow channels in the magnetosphere to the resistive ionosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 2001, vol. 106, no. A12, pp. 28967–28994.
Brenning, N., Kelley, M.C., Providakes, J., Stenbaek-Nielsen, H.C. and Swenson, C., Barium swarm: An ionospheric alternating current generator in CRIT-I, J. Geophys. Res., 1991,vol. 96, no. A6, pp. 9735–9743.
Delamere, P.A., Stenbaek-Nielsen, H.C., Hampton, D.L., and Wescott, E.M., Optical observation of the early (t < 5 s) ion dynamics of the CRRES G1, G9 and G11A releases, J. Geophys. Res., 1996, vol. 101, no. A8, pp. 17243–17257.
Delamere, P.A., Stenbaek-Nielsen, H.C., Swift, D.W. and Otto, A., Momentum transfer in the combined release and radiation effects satellite plasma injection experiments: The role of parallel electric fields, Phys. Plasmas, 2000, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. 3771–3780.
Delamere, P., Stenbaek-Nielsen, H., Pfaff, R., Erlandson, R., Meng, C., Zetzer, J., et al., Dynamics of the Active Plasma Experiment North Star artificial plasma jet, J. Spacecr. Rockets, 2004, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 503–508.
Dimonte, G. and Wiley, L.G., Dynamics of exploding plasmas in a magnetic field, Phys. Rev. Lett., 1991, vol. 67, no. 13, pp. 1755–1758.
Dungey, J.W., Cosmic Electrodynamics, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1958.
Erlandson, B., Meng, C.-I., Zetzer, J., Kiselev, Y., Gavrilov, B., Stenbaek-Nielsen, H., Lynch, K., Pfaff, R., Swaminathan, P., Kumar, C.K., Dorga, V.K., Stoyanov, B.J., Delamere, P.A., Bounds, S.R., and Gatsonis, N.A., The APEX North Star experiment: observation of the high-speed plasma jets injected perpendicular to the magnetic fields, Adv. Space Res., 2002, vol. 29, pp. 1317–1326.
Erlandson, R.E., Swaminathan, P.K., Meng, C.-I., Stoya-nov, B.J., Zetzer, J.I., Gavrilov, B.G., Kiselev, Yu.N. and Romanovsky, Yu.A., Observation of auroral emissions induced by artificial plasma jets, Geophys. Res. Lett., 1999, vol. 26, no. 11, pp. 1553–1556.
Fuselier, S.A., Mende, S.B., Geller, S.P., Miller, M., Hoffman, R.A., Wygant, J.R., Pongratz, M., Meredith, N.P., and Anderson, R.R., Dynamics of the CRRES barium releases in the magnetosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 1994, vol. 99, no. A9, pp. 17379–17390.
Gavrilov, B.G., Zetser, Yu.I., Podgornyi, A.I., and Podgornyi, I.M., Electrodynamical deceleration of the plasma jet at its injection into the magnetosphere and the ionosphere heating, Dokl. Akad. Nauk, 1994, vol. 336, no. 5, pp. 684–687.
Gavrilov, B.G., Podgorny, A.I., Podgorny, I.M., and Zetzer, J.Y., The investigation of the field-aligned current generation during injection of plasma jet into the magnetosphere, Geomagn. Aeron., 1995, vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 600–604.
Gavrilov, B.G., Kiselev, Y.N., Podgorny, I.M., Sobyanin, D.B., Zetzer, J.I., Erlandson, R.E., and Meng, C.-I., Dynamics of a high energy plasma jet in space: in situ experiment and laboratory simulation, Adv. Space Res., 1998, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 773–776.
Gavrilov, B.G., Zetzer, J.I., Podgorny, I.M., Sobyanin, D.B., Meng, C.-I., Erlandson, R.E., Stenbaek-Nielsen, H.C., Pfaff, R.F., and Lynch, K.A., Plasma jet motion across the geomagnetic field in the “North Star” active geophysical experiment, Cosmic Res., 2003, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 28–38.
Gavrilov, B.G., Podgorny, I.M., Sobyanin, D.B., Zetzer, J.I., Erlandson, R.E., Meng, C.I., Pfaff, R.F., and Lynch, K.A., North Star plasma-jet experiment particles and electric and magnetic field measurements, J. Spacecr. Rockets, 2004, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 490–495.
Haerendel, G., Experiments with plasmas artificially injected into near-Earth space, Front. Astron. Space Sci., 2019, vol. 6, Article 29. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2019.00029
Iijima, T. and Potemra, T.A., The amplitude distribution of field-aligned currents at northern high latitudes observed by Triad, J. Geophys. Res., 1976, vol. 81, no. A13, pp. 2165–2174.
Kamide, Y. and Baumjohann, W., Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling, Ser. Physics and Chemistry in Space Planetology, vol. 23, Berlin: Springer, 1993.
Kelley, M.C., Swenson, C.M., Brenning, N., and Pfaff, R., Electric and magnetic field measurements inside a high-velocity neutral beam undergoing ionization, J. Geophys. Res., 1991, vol. 96, no. A6, pp. 9703–9718.
Lynch, K.A., Torbert, R.B., Chutter, M., Erlandson, R.E., Meng, C.I., Zetzer, J.I., Gavrilov, B.G., and Kiselev, Y., Active plasma experiment: North Star particle data, J. Spacecr. Rockets, 2004, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 496–502.
Lysak, R.L., Auroral electrodynamics with current and voltage generators, J. Geophys. Res., 1985, vol. 90, no. A5, pp. 4178–4190.
Mill, J.D., O’Neil, R.R., Prace, S., et al., Midcourse space experiment: introduction to the spacecraft, instruments, and scientific objectives, J. Spacecr. Rockets, 1994, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 900–907.
Petrukovich, A.A., Baumjohann, W., Nakamura, R., Schödel, R., and Mukai, T., Are earthward bursty bulk flows convective or field-aligned?, J. Geophys. Res., 2001, vol. 106, no. A10, pp. 21211–21215.
Pfaff, R.F., Freudenreich, H.T., Bounds, S., Delamere, P.A., Erlandson, R.E., Meng, C.I., Zetzer, J.I., and Gavrilov, B.G., Electric field, magnetic field, and density measurements on the active plasma experiment sounding rocket, J. Spacecr. Rockets, 2004, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 521–532.
Poklad, Yu.V., Gavrilov, B.G., Zetzer, J.I., et al., Trigger effect of the afterglow background medium after injection of the high speed plasma jet in the Fluxus and North Star experiments, Proc. 24th Int. Symp. on Atmospheric and Ocean Optics: Atmospheric Physics; Tomsk, 2018, vol. 10833, Paper ID 108339H. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2504059
Raizer, Yu.P., The deceleration and energy conversions of a plasma expanding in vacuum in the presence of a magnetic field, Prikl. Mekh. Tekh. Fiz., 1963, vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 19–28. Transl. as NASA Tech. Tramnsl. No. TTF-239, 1964.
Scholer, M., On the motion of artificial ion clouds in the magnetosphere, Planet. Space Sci., 1970, vol. 18, pp. 977–1004.
Sergeev, V.A., Sauvaud, J.-A., Popescu, D., Kovrazhkin, R.A., Liou, K., Newell, P.T., Brittnacher, M., Parks, G., Nakamura, R., Mukai, T., and Reeves., G.D., Multiple-spacecraft observation of a narrow transient plasma jet in the Earth’s plasma sheet, Geophys. Res. Lett., 2000, vol. 27, no. 6, P. 851–854.
Shiokawa, K., Baumjohann, W., and Haerendel, G., Braking of high-speed flows in the near-Earth tail, Geophys. Res. Lett., 1997, vol. 24, no. 10, pp. 1179–1182.
Sobyanin, D.B., Gavrilov, B.G., and Podgorny, I.M., Laboratory investigation of plasma jet interaction with transverse magnetic field, Adv. Space Res., 2002, vol. 29, no. 9, pp. 1345–1349.
Swenson, C.M., Kelley, M.C., Brenning, N., Torbert, R., Primdahl, F., and Baker, K.D., CRIT II electric, magnetic, and density observations in an ionizing neutral jet, Adv. Space Res., 1992, vol. 12, no. 12, pp. 65–90.
Valenzuela, A., Haerendel, G., Föppl, H., Melzner, F., Neuss, H., Rieger, E., Stöcker, J., Bauer, O., Höfner, H., and Loidl, J., The AMPTE artificial comet experiments, Nature, 1986, vol. 320, no. 6064, pp. 700–703.
Zetzer, J.I., Kozlov, S.I., Rybakov, V.A., Ponomarenko, A.V., Smirnova, N.V., Romanovsky, Yu.A., Meng, C.-I., Erlandson, R., and Stoyanov, B., Airglow in the visible and infrared spectral ranges of the disturbed upper atmosphere under conditions of high-velocity plasma jet injection: I. Experimental data, Cosmic Res., 2002, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 233–240.
Funding
This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, project no. AAAA-A17-117112350014-8.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
The article was translated by the authors.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gavrilov, B.G., Poklad, Y.V. Physical Effects Arising from the Motion of Plasma Flows in the Ionosphere. Izv., Phys. Solid Earth 57, 731–744 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1069351321050049
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1069351321050049