A new radar auroral backscatter experiment
In 1982 a new radar auroral backscatter system, SABRE (Sweden and Britain Radar Experiment), commenced operation in northern Europe. Observations with this ground-based system allow estimates to be made of the electric fields in the auroral E-region. As an electric field probe, the coherent radar technique is unique in that measurements are made over a large area (∼200,000 km2) with good spatial resolution (20 × 20 km2) and with a temporal resolution of typically 20 s. The system field of view covers an L-value range 4.3–5.8. This region in the magnetosphere–ionosphere system is now accessible for the first time for detailed electric field studies. We present here observations of two pulsation events.
The effect of finite ionosphere conductivities on axisymmetric toroidal Alfvén wave resonances
Abstract Previously developed solutions for pure toroidal mode Alfven waves with finite ionosphere conductivities are modified to apply both inside and outside the plasmapause. Detailed diagrams are provided to illustrate the effect of realistic ionosphere conductances on the wave-forms. As well as graphs of wave-period, these include: (a) half-wave solutions showing the effect of dipole field distortion and consequent enhancement of ionosphere electric fields; (b) half-wave solutions with low damping that are symmetric and asymmetric about the equatorial plane; (c) highly-damped half-wave and quarter-wave solutions with wave admittance at the ionosphere nearly equal to the ionosphere conductance; (d) a quarter-wave solution with low damping that has a “near-node” of electric field at one ionosphere and an antinode of electric field at the other.
Effects of reservoir volume on performance of pulse tube cooler.
A pulse tube cooler has the advantages of long-life and low-vibration over conventional cryocoolers such as G-M and Stirling coolers because of the absence of moving parts at low temperature. On the other hand, the combination of a reservoir and orifice is indispensable to optimize the performance of pulse tube coolers. In order to make the pulse tube cooler compact for practical applications, the volume of reservoir should be minimized. This paper analyzes the effects of the reservoir volume on the thermodynamic performance of various components in a simple orifice and a double-inlet pulse tube cooler by combining a linearized model with a thermodynamic analysis. Expressions of entropy production for those components are presented. The results show that the reservoir volume has a significant influence on the entropy production in the various components when the reservoir to pulse tube volume ratio is smaller than about 5. The ratio is important to determine the minimum reservoir volume for a pulse tube cooler. Optimum settings for a double-inlet pulse tube cooler are also discussed.