Markov, M. N.

Merson, Ya. I.

Shamilev, M. R.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

L 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
Goddard Space Flight Center 
Contract No. NAS-5-9299 
S T  - A I -  10478 
STUDY OF THE IONOSPHERE LAYERS IN THE INFRARED 
REGION OF THE SPECTRUM 
M. N. Markov 
Ya. I. Merson GPO PRICE $ 
M. R. Shamilev 
CFSTl PRICE(S) $ 
(USSR) 
Microfiche (MF) ,Tz) 
'- f f653 July65 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19670003589 2020-03-16T16:52:43+00:00Z
ST - A I  - 10 478 
STUDY OF IONOSPBERE LAYERS I N  THE INFaARED 
REGION OF THE SPECTRUM* 
Doklady AN SSSR, 
Geof i a i k a  
Tom 167, 803 - 806 
Icdntel’s tvo llNAUIUL, April  1966 
S U M M A R Y  
by #. N e  MWkov 
Ya. I. Merson 
M. €2. Sharnilev 
This t i t l e  refers to ionosphere layers ’  emission in infrared.  
The cur ren t  study is based upon previous measurements of the  Earth’s 
and atmosphere r ad ia t ion  i n t o  cosmic space i n  the inf ra red  region of 
spectrum from the  a l t i t u d e  range 25- WOkm. 
The object  of the study is t o  br ing f o r t h  ce r t a in  estimates i n  
order  to corroborate the  poss ib i l i t y ,  i n  p r inc ip le ,  of f i t t i n g  the new 
data  i n t o  the various other  data on the atmosphere. 
The authors Consider as establ ished the f a c t  of the  cor re la t ion  
of ionospherels i n f r a red  emission with f l a r e s  near the c e n t r a l  meridian 
of the  solar disk. 
* 
* * 
Systematic measurements of E a r t h ’ s  and atmosphere r ad ia t ion  i n t o  
outer  space i n  the inf ra red  region of the spectrum (0.8 +- 4 0 ~ )  from 
he ights  ranging between 25 and 500 km C6, 7, 81 These observations were 
conducted at various times of t h e  year (June, August, October) and i n  
regions separated by dis tances  of s eve ra l  thousand kilometers,  t h e  aiming 
of the  apparatus being i n  d i f fe ren t  directions r e l a t i v e  t o  countr ies  of the 
world. 
As a r e s u l t  of these measurements i t  was establ ished t h a t  
1 )  from atmosphere layers  above 200 km there  is observed an intense 
i n f r a r e d  rad ia t ion ,  The upper atmosphere emission had in a l l  c a ~ e 8  an inten- 
s i t y  maximum i n  the a l t i t u d e  intervals 250 t 300km~ 
“500 km. 
420 + 450 km and a t  
* IZUCHENIYE S u l y E v  IONOSFERP V INFRAKRASFJOY OBLASTI SPEKTRA 
[Note : It is the t r a n s l a t o r ’ s  opinion t h a t  the word ltIZUCHENIYE1l (STUDY) 
w a s  misprinted 9or !~IZ~,VCEE~ASU ’-” \ n w a a  “ n t l m T n m  $1 ExIsSInx) ; Whj& correspan& 
b e t t e r  t o  t h e  text of the paper] 
8 .  
I 
t 
l 
2. 
2) The r ad ia t ion  observed a t  these he ights  is mostly concentrated 
2.5 + 8~ s p e c t r a l  region in the s u n l i t  par t  of the atmosphere. 
3) The upper atmosphere emission ha8 an i n t e n s i t y  maximum reaching 
' in t he  
( 3  .t 7) 
the r ad ia t ion  is in tegra ted  over a r a y  -1OOOkm long, which corresponds 
t o  i so t rop ic  radiation of 1crn3, equal  t o  10-3erg/sec. 
w a t t /  m2 when aiming in t he  d i rec t ion  of the  tangent, when 
41, The emission in t ens i ty  depends upon t h e  act ion of solar radia- 
t i o n  on the upper pa r t  of the atmosphere and increases  i n  the periods of 
s o l a r  a c t i v i t y  max imum.  The curves f o r  the  dependence of emission i n t e n s i t y  
from a hor izonta l  d i rec t ion  on t h e  aiming height,  obtained during t h e  expe- 
riments of 1958, 1962 and 18 June 1963, a re  p lo t ted  i n  Fig.1. 
Y .- 
Fig. 1. - Dependence' of the  i n t e n s i t y  of r ad ia t ion  
from a hor izonta l  d i rec t ion  on height, 
The pa r t i cu la r  s ignif icance of the  1963 experiment should be s t ressed,  
f o r  it f u l l y  corroborated t h e  resu l t6  obtained e a r l i e r :  the emission at 
he ights  280 and 420 km was fixed i n  it, and, moreover t h a t  at 500 km too. I n '  
t h i s  experiment the  operat ional  region of the spectrum w a s  l i m i t e d  by the  
band 2.5- 40 p. 
t h e  terms of reference of the present work. However, we believe i t  usefu l  
t o  br ing  f o r t h  ce r t a in  estimates so as t o  confirm the p o s s i b i l i t y  in prin- 
c i p l e  of l inking our new da ta  with o ther  information on the atmosphere. 
The exh+u&t&ve in te rpre ta t ion  of the  r e s u l t s  obtained is  beyond 
p 
, 
8 
3. 
A t  present w e  do not dispose of r e l i a b l e  da ta  r e l a t i v e  t o  atmosphere com- 
pos i t ion  
t i v e  t o  complex neu t r a l  molecules and r ad ica l s  of the type OH, N 0 , N H  and so 
fo r th ,  and  t he  more so,by absorption coe f f i c i en t s  of theae gases i n  high 
ra refac t ion  and heavy thicknee8 conditions. It appears t o  be use fu l  t o  con- 
s ide r  an atmosphere model, not including absorbing gases between emit t ing 
layers.  The a l t i t u d e  and angular d i s t r ibu t ions  of r ad ia t ion  may be i n  mutual 
agreement only i n  the  assumption t h a t  the emission is  loca l ieed  i n  spec i f i c  
l aye r s  (5- l o b ) ,  located at  ce r t a in  heights,  c lose t o  the upper and lower 
boundaries of the F2-layer. We s h a l l  assume t h a t  the  thickness of the emit- 
t i n g  l aye r s  at  heights 280, 420 and 500 km cons t i t u t e s  5km, and the  effect- 
i v e  v i s u a l  angle of the  apparatus ( taking i n t o  account the  abberations and 
the  amplifier's time constant)  ~ 0 . 5 ~ .  It is then possible t o  compute and 
p l o t  the course of r e l a t i v e  i n t e n s i t y  f o r  the curves of r ad ia t ion ' s  angular 
d i s t r ibu t ion ,  assuming t h a t  the in t ens i ty  ia proportional t o  the length of 
the  e m i t t i n g  layer ,  taking i n t o  account the  rad ia t ion 'e  dilution. 
i n  t h e  a l t i t u d e  range of i n t e r e s t  t o  us, more pa r t i cu la r ly  r e l a -  
P lo t ted  in Fig.2 are such aomputed and experimental (1963) curves. 
These curves are constructed in conformity with the motion character of the 
apparatus 's  scanning system, w i t h  the a i d  of which the  experiment is  mate- 
r i a l i zed .  A t  scanning the  o p t i c a l  system of the apparatus moved t o  t h e  hori-  
zon ta l  pos i t ion  and then back, This is why the obtained curves are symmetric- 
a l  r e l a t i v e  t o  the  horirtontal and correspond t o  rariows motion d i r ec t ioae  of 
the  o p t i c a l  mystem at scanning. Hence i t  may be eeen t h a t  there takes place 
a s a t i s f a c t o r y  agreement between the computed and experimental curves f o r  
t he  three observations heights  (and a l s o  for intermediate heights). A s m a l l  
discrepancy i n  the curves may be explained by the  fact  tha t  t he  apparatus 
does not r e g i s t e r  the  f i n e  e t ruc ture  of t r a n s i t i o n  regions, 
o ther  hand, by the approximation w i t h  which the  assumptions were made during 
ca lcu la t ions  about the layers '  dimensions, t h e i r  s t ruc ture ,  the d i s t r ibu t ion  
of dens i ty  i n  them by a l t i t u d e  and so for th ,  The accounting of a l l  these 
f a c t o r s  may lead t o  a bet te r  agreement between experimental and computed data. 
Additional ca lcu la t ions  were performed by us for the considered model, 
and, on the 
having shown t h a t  a t  c e r t a i n  na tura l  assumptione the experimental data allow 
us t o  ob ta in  the number of nonequilibrium rad ia t ion  events, the emiesionle 
i s o t r o p i c  3j .u and so C'orth. Fer a fqgz  5 l r r  thick tho Inngth of the eml,tting 
4. 
gas column along the  l aye r  cons t i t u t e s  about 500 km ( l imi ted  by the Earth 's  
curvature). Therefore, f o r  a measured f l u x  of lo2 watt/m2 
0,07% of the solar constant 's  value. Consequently, t o  t h e  f lux obtained by 
us corresponds one emission event per  second. In the spectrum region, where 
the  r ad ia t ion  is mainly ooncentrated (2.5- 8 . 0 ? ) ,  tiwe located the rota-  
t ing-osc i l la t ing  absorption bands of molecules en ter ing  i n t o  the composi- 
t ion  of the atmoephere, i n  par t icu lar  H209 C02, HO, CN4 and others, 
t he  volume den- 
s i t y  w i l l  be -2 watt/cm3 (10.3 erg/cm 3 ; t h i s  f l u x  cons t i t u t e s  about 
Fig, 2. - Computed ( a )  and experimental (6) data  on the  
angular d i s t r ibu t ion  of the rad ia t ion  i n  the region adja- 
cent t o  the horieontal  aiming di rec t ion  for various heights. 
One of the assumptions about the emission mechanism m a y  consis t  in 
t h a t  atmospheria gas molecules are excited by the solar f lux  a t  spec i f i c  
he ights ,  and the r o t a t i o n a l - o s ~ i l l a t i n g  t r ans i t i ons  in the i r  e n e r u  spec- 
trum are responsible for the radiation. 
5. 
But the data on neut ra l  composition of the atmosphere i n  the 2OO+5OO 
km are not s u f f i c i e n t l y  determined, Known is only the ion composition, of 
which the f r ac t ion  i n  the t o t a l  pa r t i c l e  content is qui te  small ( fo r  example, 
a t  300 km i t  cons t i tu tes  only 0.1% c9] (see a l s o  [l]).However, if we ~ ~ s u m e  
t h a t  the ion composition reflect .  t o  some degree the concentration of netltraz 
pa r t i c l e s ,  we may derive the conclusion of a decisive r o l e  played by the NO 
molecules i n  the emission ( a t  least at  the height of 280 km). The concentra- 
t i on  of NO ions a t  heights  - 2 O O k m  reaches i n  a s e r i e s  of cases 50percent  
of the t o t a l  number of atmosphere ions, and the molecule NO hae an in tense  
absorption band near 5.3 ( according t o  da ta  of [2]). Thus, under these as- 
sumptions the concentration of n e u t r a l  NO molecules, f o r  example i n  the lower 
layer ,  could a t t a i n  lo9 emo3 9 while the t o t a l  number of emit t ing p a r t i c l e s  
over a path length of the order of 500 km i s  r~ lo1'. Rough estimates show 
tha t ,  a t  the same time, f o r  the observed emission In tens i ty  the e f f ec t ive  
temperature, determined by the NO absorption band, reaches the order of 
2000° K. 
One can not exclude t h e  assumptions of complex exc i ta t ion  mechanism 
of atmospheric molecules as a r e s u l t  of photochemical reactions,  recombina- 
tion prooesses etc.  However, at present there are  no su f f i c i en t  foundations 
f o r  bringing f o r t h  e i t h e r  mechanism. Estimates of electromagnetic energy of 
s o l a r  rad ia t ion  in various regions of the  epectrom show t h a t  its value is in- 
s u f f i c i e n t  f o r  the observed in tens i ty ,  so t h a t  the required f luxes may appa- 
r e n t l y  be conditioned only by so la r  corpuseular radiation. Indeed, according 
t o  da t a  of [3 - 51, corpusaular f luxes reaching the height of 100 km, con- 
s t i t u t e  severa l  tousand erg/seo c& at l e a s t  during aurorae, which correa- 
ponds t o  the value of the flux of ihf ra red  rad ia t ion  obtained by us, and 
possibly even more. 
Inasmuch 88 processes in the Sun exer t  influence upon the inf ra red  
r ad ia t ion  of the atmosphere and, in par t icu lar ,  the s o l a r  corpuscular f luxes,  
reaching the Earth 's  upper atmosphere, we compiled In Table 1 the charac te r i s t  
t i c s  of the  state of the Sun and of the Earth 's  magnetic f i e l d  (function of 
s o l a r  a c t i v i t y ) ,  re fe r red  t o  the days when our experiments were conducted. 
T A B L E  1 
S U R  E A R T H  
The graphs of Fig. Iehow t h a t  in 1958, which was a year of solar 
a c t i v i t y  maximum, the ionosphere emission w a s  subs t an t i a l ly  grea te r  than 
during the 1962 and 1963 experiments (years of the  quie t  Sun). In the 
1963 experiments the emission of ionosphere layers  on 18 June w a s  s i g n i f i -  
can t ly  higher than on 6 June, when i t  was negligible,  
Experiment of 27 Aug. 1958 
For two days and during the 
experiment a f l a r e  storm was 
observed. 
The planetary index of t he  
magnetio f i e l d  WBGI Kp=  4 + 5. 
Experiment of 6 June1963. 
On 31 May and 1 June there  was 
a small number of f loccu l i ;  
on 4 June there  was a very weak 
f l a r e ;  on 6 June- no flares. 
11 - 12 June - s ign i f i can t  
16 June - 6 f l a r e s  
From 4 June t o  6 June 5 = O .  
Experiment of 18 June 1963. 
18 June 
number of f loccu l i ;  5 =3*5 
Therefore, we may consider as establ ished the f a c t  of cor re la t ion  
between the  in f r a red  r ad ia t ion  of the ionosphere and the f l a r e s  near the 
c e n t r a l  meridian of the so l a r  disk, 
a 
Received on 21 July 1965 
Contract No,NsS-5-9299 Translated by AND= L B R I C I Z B N T  
Consultants & Designers, Inc. Q 
Arlington, Virgin3.a . 
on 18 - 19 Apr i l  1966 
S T -  AI- 1.0478 ( 8pp 6 0 ~ ~ )  - 
, 
R E F L B E  BC ES 
'c13.0 K. Ya. K0NDRAT'YEV.- Meteorologicheskiyye issledovaniya p r i  pomoshchi 
raket i sputnikov (Meteorological inves t iga t ions  
with the he lp  of rocket8 and s a t e l l i t e s ) . ,  1962 
[2].- R. E. OILETE, E. H. EYSTER.- Phys.Rev. 56, 1113, 1939. 
C33.0 INVESTIGATIONS of the upper atmosphere with the a i d  of rockets  and 
satell i tes [no author 3 ,  IL (For. l i t e r a t u r e )  , 1961. 
C43.0 Yu. I. GAL'PERIN, V. I. E(RAS0VSKIY ET AL.- Koem.Issl., 1,126, 1963. 
&I.- Kh, S o  V. MESSI, R. L. F. BOYD. , Verkhnyaya atmosfera, 1962. 
C6].- L.V. LIVENTSOV, K. Ne PIARKOV ET -- AL,- Dakl. ANSSSR, 146, NO, 2, 1962. 
[7].- I, Po AVER'YANOV, p. M . KASATWIO e t  Ah.- ISZ ( A E S )  v.14, 49, 1962. 
[ 8 ] . -  M. N. MARKOV, Pa. I. MERSON, M. R. SHMILEV.- Kosm.Iss1. 
[9].- B O A  . MIRTOV, Gasovyy sostav atmosfery Z e m l i  5. metody yego analita, 1, 2. 235, 1963. 
(Gas composition of the Earth 's  atmosphere and method8 
for its analysis).- Icd-vo ANSSSR, 1961. 
D I S T R I B U T I O N  
csame a8 for ST - AI- OA - 104703 


Study of the ionosphere layers in the infrared region of the spectrum

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