Abstract
Rocket measurements of electron temperatures (T e ) in the E region over Kagoshima Space Center, Japan, carried out in a series of experiments conducted from 1970 to 1988 are analysed in this paper. All the 13 flights whose results are presented here took place around 11 AM, close to the S q current intensity maximum. Anomalously high electron temperatures associated with large increases of high energy tail electron population were observed whenever the estimated S q current vortex was very close to the launch site. Such anomalous temperatures were observed only in local winter months. A mechanism for the anomalous heating is proposed based on the solsticial asymmetry of the S q electric potentials and the resulting field-aligned current that could flow from winter to summer hemisphere.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1263-1266 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Advances in Space Research |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2000 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Aerospace Engineering
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Geophysics
- Atmospheric Science
- Space and Planetary Science
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences