ALBERT

Description: A survey of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) magnetometer and plasma data from 1979-1980, shows that the occurrence frequency of interplanetary shocks, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and stream interactions observed at 0.7 AU exhibits a solar cycle variation. As previously found at 1 AU, the observed number of both interplanetary shocks and CMEs peaks during solar maximum (approximately 16 and approximately 27 per year, respectively) and reaches a low during solar minimum (approximately 0 and approximately 7 per year, respectively), in phase with the variation in smoothed sunspot number. The number of stream interactions observed varies in the opposite manner, having a minimum during solar maximum (approximately 15 per year) and a maximum during solar minimum (approximately 34 per year). The percentage of CMEs and stream interactions producing interplanetary shocks also varies during the solar-cycle and exhibits interesting behavior during the declining phase. While the number of CMEs observed during this phase is decreasing, the percentage of CMEs producing interplanetary shocks reaches a maximum. Also, while the number of stream interactions observed is increasing, but has not reached maximum during the declining phase, the percentage of stream interactions producing interplanety shocks is at a maximum.

Description: A resolution to the question of whether coronal mass ejections are loops or bubbles is proposed and applied to the geometrical analysis of a solar wind event detected at 1 AU by ISEE 1 and 3. The discontinuity orientations, the size determined by time of passage, and the magnetic cloud signature are fit into the topology of a flux rope loop distorted by expansion into a thick rope with comparable dimensions in both the ecliptic and meridional planes. The looped rope fills a bubblelike cavity, thus preserving both types of proposed coronal mass ejection geometries. Other interesting features of the data include an apparent separation by the rope core of bidirectionally streaming protons in the leading section from electrons in the trailing section, possible vortical flow within the magnetic cloud, and a well-defined filamentary structure behind the shock.

Description: The present investigation is concerned with interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) enhancements which do not resemble any of the previously reported amplifications in the IMF. The magnetic field enhacements observed increase slowly at first and then more rapidly to a peak followed by a symmetrical decay. Interplanetary magnetic field enhacement observed by ISEE-3 on various dates are considered, giving attention to observations on June 5, 1979; September 8-9, 1980; February 5, 1981; and June 14-15, 1981. Interplanetary magnetic field enhancement observed with the aid of IMP-8 are also considered. A total of 45 events is found in surveying a 9-year period of magnetic field data.

Description: All interplanetary shocks observed by ISEE-3 and either ISEE-1 or ISEE-2 or both in 1978 and 1979 are examined for evidence of upstream waves. In order to characterize the properties of these shocks it is necessary to determine accurate shock normals. An overdetermined set of equations were inverted to obtain shock normals, velocities and error estimates for all these shocks. Tests of the method indicate it is quite reliable. Using these normals the Mach number and angle were between the interplanetary magnetic field and the shock normal for each shock. The upstream waves were separated into two classes: whistler mode precursors which occur at low Mach numbers and upstream turbulence whose amplitude at Mach numbers greater than 1.5 is controlled by the angle of the field to the shock normal. The former waves are right hand circularly polarized and quite monochromatic. The latter waves are more linearly polarized and have a broadband featureless spectrum.

Description: The Pioneer Venus orbiter reveals that Venus has a well developed bow shock like the Earth's but on that is significantly weaker than the Earth's shock. The location of the bow shock is highly variable, more so than would have been expected for an obstacle of essentially fixed size. The altitude of the ionopause is also highly variable in response to changes in the solar wind. In the ionosphere, the field is often low. However, on some orbits, very large fields are seen as low as 150 km, and on most dayside orbits, thin magnetic structures of flux ropes are observed. At night, large fields are often observed which vary from orbit to orbit. Venus has a much smaller intrinsic magnetic moment than expected from scaling the terrestrial moment.

Description: During much of an approximately 5-hour period on November 22, 1979, plasma and field instruments on ISEE 3 measured a solar wind flow that was simultaneously supersonic and sub-Alfvenic (about 320 km/s) due to an abnormally low ion density (about 0.07 per cu cm). The nature of the disturbed flow adjacent to the magnetosphere is examined. This examination suggests that the earth's bow wave retained its shock-like character when the solar wind flow was sub-Alfvenic.

Description: Observations obtained upstream of the earth's bowshock with the LASL/MPI plasma instruments and the UCLA magnetometers on ISEE-1 and 2 have revealed a striking relationship between the presence of low-frequency fluctuations in solar wind density and field strength and the different types of distribution functions of upstream ions. Waves are absent when the ions have the beamlike distribution of the 'reflected' ions. Large-amplitude waves are present only in conjunction with the 'diffuse' ions, which are characterized by flat energy spectra and broad angular distributions. The waves are largely compressive, showing very good correlation between oscillations in magnetic field strength and plasma density.

Description: A thick, quasi-parallel bow shock structure was observed with field and particle detectors of both HEOS 1 and OGO 5. The typical magnetic pulsation structure was at least 1 to 2 earth radii thick radially and was accompanied by irregular but distinct plasma distributions characteristic of neither the solar wind nor the magnetosheath. Waves constituting the large pulsations were polarized principally in the plane of the nominal shock, therefore also in the plane perpendicular to the average interplanetary field. A separate interpulsation regime detected between bursts of large amplitude oscillations was similar to the upstream wave region magnetically, but was characterized by disturbed plasma flux and enhanced noise around the ion plasma frequency. The shock structure appeared to be largely of an oblique, whistler type, probably complicated by counterstreaming high energy protons. Evidence for firehose instability-based structure was weak at best and probably negative.

Description: Enhancements in power spectra of the solar-wind ion flux in the frequency neighborhood of 0.5 Hz had been noted by Unti et al. (1973). It was speculated that these were due to convected small-scale density irregularities. In this paper, 54 flux spectra calculated from OGO 5 data are examined. It is seen that the few prominent spectral peaks which occur were not generated by density irregularities, but were due to several different causes, including convected discontinuities and propagating transverse waves. A superposition of many spectra, however, reveals a moderate enhancement at a frequency corresponding to convected features with a correlation length of a proton gyroradius, consistent with the results of Neugebauer (1975).

Description: Dawn VIR spectra are characterized by pyroxene absorptions and no clear evidence for abundant other minerals are observed at the scale of the present measurements. Even though Vesta spectra are dominated by pyroxenes, spectral variation at regional and local scales are evident and distinct color units are identified. Although almost all of the surface materials exhibit spectra like those of howardites, some large units can be interpreted to be material richer in diogenite (based on pyroxenes band depths and band centers) and some others like eucrite-rich howardite units. VIR data strongly indicate that the south polar region (Rheasilvia) has its own spectral characteristics, indicating the presence of Mg-pyroxene-rich terrains (diogenite-like), while the equatorial areas have swallower band depths and average band centers at slightly longer wavelengths, consistent with more eucrite rich materials. Vesta surface shows considerable diversity at smaller scales (tens of km), in terms of spectral reflectance and emission, band depths and slopes. Many bright and dark spots are present on Vesta. Dark spots have low reflectance at visible wavelengths and are spectrally characterized by shallower 1 and 2 micron bands with respect the surrounding terrains. Bright materials have high reflectance and are often spectrally characterized by deep pyroxenes absorption bands. Vesta presents complex geology/topography and the mineral distribution is often correlated with geological and topographical structures. Ejecta from large craters have distinct spectral behaviors, and materials exposed in the craters show distinct spectra on floors and rims. VIR reveals the mineralogical variation of Vesta s crustal stratigraphy on local and global scales. Maps of spectral parameters show surface and subsurface unit compositions in their stratigraphic context. The hypothesis that Vesta is the HED parent body is consistent with, and strengthened by, the geologic and spectral context for pyroxene distribution provided by Dawn.