ALBERT

Description: This document provides definitions of the natural near-Earth space environment suitable for use in the initial development/design phase of any space vehicle. The natural environment includes the neutral atmosphere, plasma, charged particle radiation, electromagnetic radiation (EMR), meteoroids, orbital debris, magnetic field, physical and thermal constants, and gravitational field. Communications and other unmanned satellites operate in geosynchronous-Earth orbit (GEO); therefore, some data are given for GEO, but emphasis is on altitudes from 200 km to 1000 km (low-Earth orbit (LEO)). This document does not cover the induced environment of other effects resulting from presence of the space vehicle. Manmade factors are included as part of the ambient natural environment; i.e., orbital debris and radio frequency (RF) noise generated on Earth, because they are not caused by the presence of the space vehicle but form part of the ambient environment that the space vehicle experiences.

Description: The evolution and long-time stability of a double layer (DL) in a discrete auroral arc requires that the parallel current in the arc, which may be considered uniform at the source, be diverted within the arc to charge the flanks of the U-shaped double layer potential structure. A simple model is presented in which this current redistribution is effected by anomalous transport based on electrostatic lower hybrid waves driven by the flank structure itself. This process provides the limiting constraint on the double layer potential. The flank charging may be represented as that of a nonlinear transmission line. A simplified model circuit, in which the transmission line is represented by a nonlinear impedance in parallel with a variable resistor, is incorporated in a one-dimensional simulation model to give the current density at the DL boundaries. Results are presented for the scaling of the DL potential as a function of the width of the arc and the saturation efficiency of the lower hybrid instability mechanism.

Description: The minimum, mean, and maximum exospheric temperature on the globe were calculated for every three hour period from 1947 through 1989 using the algorithms in the Marshall Engineering Thermosphere (MET) model and the appropriate solar activity input parameters. Cumulative percent frequency (CPF) distributions were then calculated for each of these temperatures at five levels of solar activity as defined by the 13-month smoothed values of the 10.7-cm solar radio noise flux. Next, the 50, 95, 97.7, and 100 percentile temperature values in each of these five levels of solar activity were curve fit as a function of the 13-month smoothed 10.7-cm flux. The resulting algorithms are used to compute the exospheric temperature in the MET model instead of the technique developed by Jacchia in his 1970 model. These temperatures are then used to enter tables to determine the total mass density and/or the atomic oxygen number density for application to engineering problems. Users can specify the risk level they are willing to accept in the results of analyses that require neutral atmosphere parameters inputs. The model eliminates the guess work in how to combine the solar activity input parameters to insure that the results provide answers at the proper risk levels.

Description: The capability of empirical models of the earth's thermosphere must continually be updated if they are to keep pace with their many applications in the aerospace industry. This paper briefly summarizes the progress of several such efforts in support of the Space Station Program. The efforts consists of the development of data bases, analytical studies of the data, and evaluation and intercomparison of thermosphere models. A geomagnetic storm model of Slowey does not compare as well to the MSIS-86 model as does the Marshall Engineering Thermosphere (MET). LDEF orbit decay data is used to evaluate the performance of the MET and MSIS-86 during a period of high solar activity; equal to or exceeding the highest levels that existed during the time of the original data sets upon which these models are based.

Description: Equations are presented for the physical mechanisms involved in the resonant absorption of Alfven waves in the plasma sheet boundary layer. It is shown that energy absorbed by the plasma-sheet particles is a function of the central plasma sheet temperature. The heating curve, when coupled with convective transport, yielded an equation of state for the steady state plasma sheet, whose solution has the form of a mathematical catastrophe. The master equation includes dynamic terms describing the transition across the thermal catastrophe, making it possible to evaluate the time scale for the catastrophe to occur.

Description: We integrated geophysical and geological methods to evalute the structural evolution of the active Teton normal fault, Wyoming, and its role in the development of the dramatic topography of Teton Range and Jackson Hole. Comparison of variations in surface offsets with the topographic expression of the Teton range crest and drainage divide, and the overall structure of the range, suggests that the effects ofpostglacial faulting cannot be discriminated from the influence of pre-extensional structures and differential; erosion on the footwall topography. In contrast, the effects of multiple scarp-forming normal faulting earthquakes are expressed by the anomalous drainage pattern and westward tilt of the hanging wall, Jackson Hole, toward the Teton fault. Kinematic boundary element fault models suggest that the westward tilt of the valley floor is the product of 110-125 m of displacement on a 45 deg-75 deg E dipping Teton fault in the past 25,000-75,000 years. Comparisons with historic normal faulting earthquake displacements imply that this range of displacement corresponds to 10-50, M greater than 7 scarp-forming earthquakes. A total throw of 2.5 to 3.5 km across the Teton fault is suggested by inverse ray-tracing and forward gravity models. These models also suggest that Laramide age structures have been offset across the Teton fault and obscure its geophysical signature but also continue to influence the structural and topographic expression of the footwall and hanging wall blocks. Paleomagnetic analyses of the approximately 2.0 Ma Huckelberry Ridge Tuff suggest that the overall westward tilt of the Teton Range is a result ofabout 10 deg of west side down tilt across the Teton fault since tuff emplacement. This suggests that much if not all of the throw across the Teton fault has accumulated in the past 2 m.y. Complex demagnetization and rock magnetic behavior and local emplacement of the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff on preexisting topogrpahy preclude determination of the amount or variations in throw along strike of the Teton fault from the paleomagnetic data.

Description: Stochastic inversion for flexural loads and flexural rigidity of the continental elastic layer can be accomplished most effectively by using the coherence of gravity and topography. However, the spatial resolution of coherence analysis has been limited by use of two-dimensional periodogram spectra from very large (greater than 10(exp 5)sq km) windows that generally include multiple tectonic features. Using a two-dimensional spectral estimator based on the maximum entropy method, the spatial resolution of flexural proerties can be enhanced by a factor of 4 or more, enabling more detailed analysis at the scale of individual tectonic features. This new approach is used to map the spatial variation of flexural rigidity along the Basin and Range transition to the Colorado Plateau and Middle Rocky Mountains physiographic provinces. Large variations in flexural isostatic responses are found, with rigidities ranging from as low as 8.7 x 10(exp 20) N m (elastic thickness (T(sub e) = 4.6 km) in the Basin and Range to as high as 4.1 x 10(exp 24) N m T(sub e) = 77 km) in the Middle Rocky Mountains. These results compare favorably woith independent determinations of flexural rigidity in the region. Areas of low flexural rigidity correlate strongly with areas of high surface heat flow, as is expected from the contingence of flexural rigidity on a temperature-dependent flow law. Also, late Cenozoic normal faults with large displacements are found primarily in area of low flexural rigidity region. The highest flexural rigidity is found within the Archean Wyoming craton, where evidence suggests that deeply rooted cratonic lithosphere may play a role in determining the distribution of tectonism at the surface.

Description: Several authors have employed the embedding-dimension method to analyze time series of geomagnetic indices, with differing results for the value of the correlation dimension nu. It is argued that these differences may arise from corresponding differences in the length and construction of the various data sets used. Practical application of the method to sets of discretized data requires use of a delay time scale set by the autocorrelation time of the data set. It is found that a particular data set containing 35 days of AE exhibits an autocorrelation time tau(c) longer by an order of magnitude than that of a short-duration (less than 5 days) set, raising the possibility that extant analyses of long-duration sets may have employed delay times shorter than tau(c). In addition, the power spectrum of AE reveals modulation at a period of 24 hr. A numerical experiment on the logistic map shows that such modulation introduces an extra degree of freedom in the data, resulting in an augmented correlation dimension.

Description: This letter presents a first step towards a substorm model including particle heating and transport in the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL). The heating mechanism discussed is resonant absorption of Alfven waves. For some assumed MHD perturbation incident from the tail lobes onto the plasma sheet, the local heating rate in the PSBL has the form of a resonance function of the one-fluid plasma temperature. Balancing the local heating by convective transport of the heated plasma toward the central plasma sheet, an 'equation of state" is found for the steady-state PSBL whose solution has the form of a mathematical catastrophe: at a critical value of a parameter containing the incident power flux, the local density, and the convection velocity, the equilibrium temperature jumps discontinuously. Associating this temperature increase with the abrupt onset of the substorm expansion phase, the catastrophe model indicates at least three ways in which the onset may be triggered. Several other consequences related to substorm dynamics are suggested by the simple catastrophe model.