Physics of the Aurora and Airglow

720 Pages·11.926 MB·English

by  Joseph W. Chamberlain(auth.)

CLASSICS IN GEOPHYSICS
Physics
of the
Aurora and
Joseph W. Chamberlain
American GeophysicalU nion
Washington,
Library of CongressC ataloging-in-PublicationD ata
ChamberlainJ, osephW . (JosephW yan), 1928-
Physicso f the auroraa nda irglow/ JosephW . Chamberlain.
p. cm.
Originallyp ublishedN: ew York' AcademicP ress1, 961.
(Internationagl eophysicsse ries;v . 2)
Includesb ibliographicarel ferenceasn di ndex.I SBN 0-87590-857-8( pbk.)
1. Auroras.2 . Meteorologicoalp tics.3 . Radiation4. . Auroras--Bibliography.
5. Meteorologicaol ptics--Bibliography. I. Title.
QC971.C48 1995
538'.768-dc20
95-25022
CIP
ISBN 0-87590-857-8
Copyright1 995b y theA mericanG eophysicaUln ion.S horte xcerptms ayb e
reprintedi n scientificb ooksa ndj ournalsi f the sourceis properlyc ited;a ll
otherr ightsr eserved.
Printed in the United States of America
AmericanG eophysicaUl nion
2000 Florida Avenue, NW
WashingtonD, .C.
Preface to the Reprint Edition
In the pasty ear severalc olleaguehs avei nquiredw hethert his book
might be reprinted.B ut it was not at all obvioust hat after 33 yearst he
book would still commande nougha ttemioni n the communityt o justify
the cost.C onsequentlyJ,a mesB ishop,o f ComputationaPlh ysicsI,n c. in
Fairfax, Virginia, undertookto samplet he interesti n a reprinta mong
current researchw orkers and universityt eachers.T he responsew as
gratifyinga nd seemeds ufficientlys trongt o warranta reprinte dition.
Althougha thoroughr evisionw ould have beend esirable,t hat task
loomsh erculeana gainstt he effort I am able to muster,a nd I have had
to be contentw ith some "Notes and Erram" that I hope will aid the
readeri n finding up-to-datem aterial.
I am indebtedt o JamesB ishopf or his initiativea nd owe thankst o
JohnW inckler at the Universityo f Minnesotaa nd GeoffreyM cHarg at
the U.S. Air Force Academyi n ColoradoS pringsf or their encour-
agementC. harlesA rthura t AcademicP ressh asb eene xtremelyc oopera-
tive in arrangingf or a transfero f the copyright,t herebya llowingt he
publicationo f the reprintt o proceed.
JosephW . Chamberlaia
Houston, Texas
Jalluary
Notes and Errata
Page9 , Eq.( 1.18)'T het hirdt ermis 0:2ox .
Page 57, Table 2.1: In the 4th column,f or 1' = 0, the valuesu nder "Eq.
(2.68) (cid:127) are 1.001, 0.999, and 0.998.
Pages 321-322, Propertieso f the InterplanetaryG as: Both the Parker
(supersonice xpansion)a nd Chamberlain( subsonice xpansion)c lass of
solution of the hydrodynamice quationsa re legitimate. That Parker's
approachg ivesa n acceptablseo lutiono f the solarw ind was demonstrated
by L. M. Noble and F. L. Scarf [1963], Conductiveh eatingo f the solar
wind. I, AstrophysJ. . 138, 1169-1181. However,a mathematicallcyo rrect
solutiono f the threes olar-windd ifferentiael quationsw asn ot obtainedu ntil
over 30 yearsl ater:J . W. Chamberlain[1 995], Icarus, 113 or 114, in press.
Pages3 32-343, PlasmaP hysicsa ndA uroralT heory:I n a shortm onograph
(J. W. Chamberlain[ 1964], "Motion of ChargedP articlesi n the Earth's
Magnetic Field," Gordon and Breach, New York) I have reviewed
St6rmer'st heoryf or the motiono f a chargedp articlei n a dipolem agnetic
field; the guiding-centetrh eoryo f particleo rbits,i ncludinga mathematical
discussiono f the transversea nd longitudinala diabatici nvariants;a nd the
hydromagneticth eory of drift motions. This material was published
previouslya s a chapteirn "GeophysicsT,h e Earth'sE nvironment,e" ds.C .
DeWitt, J. Hieblot, and A. Lebeau[ 1962], pp. 140--1 74.
In the 1960s auroralt heoristsb egant o think in termso f plasmap hysics,
which was being developeda t a rapidp aceb y physicistsw ho were mainly
inspiredb y the challengeo f controlledn uclearf usion.T he questionw as,
How are auroralp articlesa cceleratetdo wardE arth from the geomagnetic
plasmac alledt he magnetospherIe ?m adeo ne of the first suchp roposals
basedo n the drift instabilitys tudiedp reviouslyb y Krall and Rosenblurb
[1963] in connectionw ith magnetic-mirroprl asmasin the laboratory.T he
accelerationm echanisma risesf rom a low-frequency,t ransversee lectro-
magnetwica vew, ithe lectrivce ctoEr I paralletol thee xternagle omagnetic
field, B0 . The plasmab ecomesr apidlyu nstablet o suchw avesw hen the
wave velocity is of the order of the ion drift velocity, so that the ions
experienac ec ontinuoEu Is for durationosf theo rdero f a bouncpee riod
(from the northern to southern mirror and back). The ion
inductivelyr eactso n the electrons,s o that both typeso f particlem ay be
dumpedT. he acceleratinegl ectricf ield, beingi nductivera thert hane lectro-
static, avoidst he difficultiesi nherenti n large-scalec harges eparationin a
plasma.T he linear perturbationth eory was extendedt o large-amplitude
wavesb y Krall [ 1967]. The principalr eferencesa re:
Chamberlain,J . W. [1963], Plasmai nstabilitya s a mechanismfo r auroral
bombardmentJ, . GeophysR. es. 68, 5667-5674.
Krall, N. A. and Rosenbluth,M . N. [1963], Low-frequencys tabilityo f
nonuniformp lasmasP, hys.l (cid:127)uids 6, 254-265.
Krall, N. A. [1967], Nonlinearl imit of a drift instabilityr elatedt o auroral
bombardmentP, hys.F luids 10, 2263-2270.
Dungey,J . W. [1967], Hydromagnetiwca ves,i n "Physicso f Geomagnetic
Phenomena," Vol. 2, eds. S. Matsushitaa nd W. H. Campbell,
AcademicP ress,N ew York, pp. 913-934.
Chamberlain,J . W. [1969], Electrica ccelerationo f auroralp articles,R ev.
Geophys7. , 461-482.
Otherm echanismosf aurorala cceleratiohna veb eent reatedi n the following
collections of articles:
Akasofu,S .-I. and Kan, J. R., ed, s. [ 1981], "Physicso f AuroralA rc Forma-
tion," GeophysicMalo nograph25 , AGU, WashingtonD, .C., 465 pp.
Meng, C.-I., Rycroft,M . J., and Frank, L. A., eds. [1991], "Auroral
Physics,"C ambridgeU niversityP ress,N ew York, pp. 83-156.
Lysak,R . L., ed. [1993], "AuroraPl lasmaD ynamics,"G eophysicMalo no-
graph8 0, AGU, WashingtonD, .C., 291 pp.
Page3 47, fifth line fromb ottomo f regularte xt:T he firstw ordi s "Bums".
Pages3 59 and 562-564, Hydrogene missioinn then ights ky:T hiss ubject
hasg rowne normouslsyi nce1 961.E missioinn tensitieasn dD opplepr rofries
of Balmer-alphaan d- betac anb eu sedt o extracitn formationab outh ydrogen
in the exosphereA. majorr eviewo f the entiret opico f ultravioleat irglow
is Meier, R. R. [ 1991], Ultraviolets pectroscopayn d remotes ensingo f the
uppera tmosphereS,p aceS ci. Rev. 58, 1-185.
Otheri mportanrt esearcha rticlesin clude
Rairden, R. L., Frank, L. A., and Craven, J. D. [1986], Geocoronal
imagingw ith DynamicsE xplorerJ, . GeophysR. es.9 1, 13613-13630.
AndersonD, . E., Jr., Meier, R. R., HodgesR, . R., Jr., andT insley,B . A.
[1987],H ydrogenB almera lphain tensitdy istributionasn dl inep rofries
from multiples catteringth eoryu singr ealisticg eocoronaml odels,J .
GeophysR. es. 92, 7619-7642,
Anderson,D . E., Jr., Paxton, L. J., McCoy, R. P., Meier, R. R.,
Chakrabarti,S . [1987], Atomic hydrogena nd solarL yman alphaf lux
deducedf rom STP 78-1 UV observationsJ, . Geophys.R es. 92,
8759-8766.
Fluorescentlys catteredB almer emissionc an exhibit profile asymmetries
merely due to the [me structureo f the atomic orbits. I have published
calculations of this effect:
ChamberlainJ, . W. [ 1987], Balmerp rof0esi n the geocoronaa nd interstel-
lar space.I . Asymmetriesd ue to free structureI,c arus 70, 476-482
[1987].
Pages3 68-375, Table 9.1' Theseb and originsa nd line positionsf or the
Meinel systemo f OH canb e calculatedw ith improveda ccuracyfr om more
recentv ibrationala nd rotationacl onstantcso mpiledb y K. P. Huber and G.
Herzberg[ 1979], "MolecularS pectraa nd MolecularS tructure:I V. Con-
stantso f DiatomicM olecules,"V an NostrandR einhold,N ew York, p. 508.
Page 425, Table 11.1: A more up-to-datec ollectiono f photons cattering
coefficientso, r g-values,i s foundi n J. W. Chamberlaina nd D. M. Hunten
[1987], "Theory of PlanetaryA tmospheres:A n Introductiont o Their
Physicsa ndC hemistry,"2 nd ed., AcademicP ress,S anD iego, p. 293 and
referencesn oted on p. 322.
Page 431, third line above Eq. (11.15): The symbol for this transition
probabilityis A(cid:127) .
Pages 431-437, Polarization of ResonanceR adiation: The standard
procedureto calculatea (F') and t(cid:127)(F'), whicha re necessartyo derivet he
polarizationa nd anisotropyo f singlys catteredlig ht, requiresth e evaluation
of the partialt ransitionp robabilitiesfr om the equationsg iveni n foomote5
on p. 434. These calculationsc an be quite tedious for a given case,
especiallyif there are severalh fs componentasr isingf rom nuclears pin.
AccordinglyI, haved eriveda simplifiedc omputationaml ethodb asedo n the
spectroscopsicu mr ules, whichp ermito ne to evaluateth e polarizationb y
addingt he underlyings impler esonanat nd fluorescems catteringc hannels.
The papera lso containsa table of polarizationso f somed ay airglow lines
and multipicts:
Chamberlain,I . W. [1990], Calculationo f polarizationa nd anisotropyo f
resonanat nd fluorescenst catteringI,c arus 84, 106-117.
Page 434, foomote5 , first line: The secondp ager eferenceto White [ 1934a]
is 221. At the third line from bottom,n otet hat the relatives trengthso f the
hfs componentosb tainedf rom the Table in White's Appendixm ay also
foundf rom formulaeo n White'sp . 206 or in the author's1 990p aperq uoted
in the precedingn ote.
Page 436, first paragraphT: he calculationosf Heydenburge t al. [1932a]
are slightly in error. The correct values are P x(D2) = 0.1897;
(cid:127)i(cid:127)(F')/(cid:127)a(F') = 0.094848;P o(D21(cid:127)r/2-)- O.1 048. The numericatle rmi n
Eq. (11.30)is 15.32.
Pages5 67-568, AppendixI . A Tableo f PhysicalC onstantsA: few updated
valuesh aveb eenp ennedi n the margins.
Page 577, AppendixV . Ionosphere: Last line under "Recombination" is
e-,N + O.
Page 600, Batesa nd McDowell [1957a]: This paperh asa n error corrected
in the samejo urnal, Vol. 16, p. 393, 1959.
Pages5 90-592, AppendixV III, SupplementarByi bliographyS: omeb ooks
publisheds ince1 961 that deal with aurorao r airglowo r closelyr elated
phenomenaar e the following:
Petrie, W. [1963], "Keoeeit- The Story of the Aurora Borealis,"
Macmillan, New York, 134 pp.
Walt, M., ed. [1965], "Auroral PhenomenaE, xperimentsa nd Theory,"
StanfordU niversityP ress,S tanford,C alifornia, 170 pp.
Oreholt, A. [1971], "The OpticalA urora," Springer-VerlagH, eidelberg,
198 pp.
VallanceJ ones,A . [1974], "Aurora," D. Reidel, Dordrecht,3 01 pp.
Eather,R . H. [ 1980], "MajesticL ights- - The Aurorai n ScienceH, istory,
andt he Arts," AGU, WashingtonD, .C., 323 pp.
Akasofu,S .-I. and Kan, J. R., eds. [1981], "Physicso f AuroralA rc Forma-
tion," GeophysicaMl onograph2 5, AGU, WashingtonD, .C., 465 pp.
SchrOder,W . [1984], "Das Ph'anomend es Polarlichts," Wissenschaftliche
BuchgesellschaDft,a rmstadt,1 56 pp.
Chamberlain,J . W. and Hunten, D. M. [1987], "Theory of Planetary
AtmospheresA: n Introductionto Their Physicsa nd Chemistry,"2 rid
ed., AcademicP ress,S an Diego.
Rees, M. H. [1989], "Physicsa nd Chemistryo f the Upper Atmosphere,"
CambridgeU niversit(cid:127) Press,N ew York, 289 pp.
JohnsonR, . E. [ 1990], "EnergeticC harged-ParticlIen teractionWs ith Atmo-
spheresa nd Surfaces,"S pringer-VerlagB, erlin, 232 pp.
Meng, C.-I., Rycroft, M. J., and Frank, L. A., eds. [1991], "Auroral
Physics,"C ambridgeU niversityP ress,N ew York, 463 pp. + 50 color
plates.
Lysak,R . L., ed. [1993], "AuroralP lasmaD ynamics,"G eophysicaMl ono-
graph8 0, AGU, WashingtonD, .C., 291
Preface
Physicso f the aurora and airglow is a diversifieds ubject,a nd this
characteristicis , I think, the secreto f its charm. But it is growing up
in an age when physicistsm ust necessarilys pecializein narrow fields
of interest. The advantageg ainedb y a scientista pplying his particular
competenceto the aurora or airglowi s then partly offsetb y his lack of
familiarity with other areaso œt he topic. The field is so broad that it
is most difficult for him to learn the whole subjectw hile still pursuing
and keepinga breasti n his own specialty.
Now you know my main incentivef or writing this book:I wanted to
have somef amiliarity with all aspectso f aurora and airglow, and I felt
that many others must find themselvesi n a similar situation.
The bibliography,c ontainingo ver 1600 referencesc ited in the text,*
is intended to be an exhaustivel ist of contributionst hat are currently
significanta nd readily accessible;i t contains as well the principal
historicalw orks. With very few exceptionsI, have been reluctant to
reœerencaeb stractso œp apersp resenteda t meetings,a rticlesi n obscure
journals,a nd those printed privately,s uch as thesesa nd the technical
reports of industrial firms, universities,a nd governmentl aboratories.
Almosta ll the listedp apersa nd booksw ill be availablea t a goodu niver-
sity library. I havet ried to maket he reœerencincgo mpleteu p to January
1960. A few later articlesa re included.T hese are mostlyo nest hat I had
seeni n manuscript,a lthougha handful of otherst hat seemede specially
pertinent were added in the final stageso f revision.
I havee laboratedo r abbreviatedth e discussiono œs omet opicsa ccord-
ing to whethert hey had alreadyb eent reateda dequatelyin other books.
This explains,f or example,m y extensivet r.e atmento f the analysiso f
twilight observationfso r emissionh eights,b ut the absenceo f a detailed
accounto n the reductiono œa uroralp arallactico bservations.
AlthoughI hope! haven ot overemphasizemd y own speciarl esearch
interests,I have used the book to develop severalt opics in a fairly
complete manner and to synthesizea number of more fragmentary
investigationtsh at I had publishedp reviouslyw ith variousa ssociates.
Theset opicsi ncludet he theory of hydrogene missionin aurora,r eso-
* Since the referencesa re cited by author and date, the longer lists of citations have
been relegatedt o footnotes,w here they lie glaring at the discussiona bove.
X PR](cid:127)AC(cid:127)
nances catteringb y atmospherisco dium,t he excitationo f the oxygen
red linesi n the airglowa, nda n atlaso f the aurorals pectrumT. he latter
wasc ompilewd itht hec ollaboratioonf Dr. LloydW allaceI.n cidentally,
a speciael ffortw asm adet o summarizteh e radiow ork on the aurora
so that it would be intelligibleto one who, like myself,h ash ad little
trainingi n radiop hysicso r engineerinagn d who oftenh asd ifficulty
readingt he originalp apers.
I haven ota ssumeadn yp articulafra miliarityo nt he parto f the reader
with problemso f the upper atmosphereh; owever,I have supposed
throughoutht ath e is acquaintewdi tht he elementarays pectosf atomic
and moleculars tructurea nd with the principleso f electromagnetic
theory.I n the hopet hat the bookm ay be usefuli n graduatec ourses,
I havea ppendead few problemss,o mep racticaal nds omet heoretical,
after each chapter.
j. w. c.
WilliamsB ay, Wisconsin
April
xi
Acknowledgments
Severaol f my colleaguehsa veb eeng enerousin devotingt heir time
to criticalr eadingso f partso f the first draft. Their suggestionwse re
mosth elpful.M y thankst o ProfessoDr . R. Bates,F . R. S., Queens
Universityo f Belfast;P rof. P. A. Forsyth and Prof. D. M. Hunten,
Universityo f SaskatchewanP;r of. B. Nichols, Cornell University;
Dr. F. E. Roach,N ationalB ureauo f StandardsB, oulder;a nd especially
Dr. L. Wallace, Yerkes Observatory,w ho read and constructively
criticizedt he entirev olumew ith Jobianp atience.P rofessoVr . P. Hessler,
Universityo f Alaskag, raciouslayl lowedm e the privilegeo f publishing
someo f his artistica uroralp hotographs.
The preparatioonf someo f the materiailn this bookw ass upported
in part by the GeophysicRs esearchD irectorateo f the Air Force
CambridgeR esearchL aboratoriesA,i r ForceR esearchD ivision,u nder
ContractA F 19(604)-3044w ith the Universityo f Chicago.
For assistancew ith calculationsa nd the preparationo f tables and
figureIs ami ndebtedto Dr. J. C. BrandtM, r. A.M. HeiserM, rs. Beverly
NegaardM, rs. Vidya Pesch,M r. T. H. Rau, Miss ElaineS andberg,
Mr. C. A. Smith, Mrs. Pamela Stuefen, Mr. J. W. Tapscott, and
Mrs. Frances Vandervoort.
Finally, I expresss inceresat ppreciationto my able secretaryM, iss
HeleneT horson,w ho hass ufferedw ith my handwritinga nd a thousand
otherd ifficultiesth roughn earlyt hree years.W ithout her conscientious
dedicatiotno the wholep rojectI, feari t wouldn everh aves eent he light
of