Table of Contents

1. Introduction.- 1.1 Definitions and Constraints.- 1.2 Scope and Organization of the Material.- 1.3 Brief History of Space Research.- 2. Neutral Upper Atmosphere.- 2.1 State Parameters of Gases and their Gas Kinetic Interpretation.- 2.1.1 Definition and Derivation of Gas Kinetic Parameters.- 2.1.2 Macroscopic State Parameters.- 2.2 Height Profiles of the State Parameters.- 2.3 Barospheric Density Distribution.- 2.3.1 Aerostatic Equation.- 2.3.2 Pressure Gradient Force.- 2.3.3 Barometric Law.- 2.3.4 Heterospheric Density Distribution.- 2.3.5 Gas Kinetics of the Barometric Law.- 2.3.6 Transition from Homosphere to Heterosphere.- 2.3.7 Atomic Oxygen and Hydrogen.- 2.4 Exospheric Density Distribution.- 2.4.1 Exobase Height.- 2.4.2 Escape Velocity.- 2.4.3 Velocity Distribution in Gases.- 2.4.4 Escape Flux and Stability of the Atmosphere.- 2.4.5 Exospheric Density Distribution.- 3. Absorption of Solar Radiation Energy.- 3.1 Origin and Characteristics of Solar Radiation.- 3.1.1 Interior Structure of the Sun.- 3.1.2 Solar Atmosphere.- 3.1.3 Radiation Spectrum.- 3.1.4 Variation of the Radiation Intensity.- 3.2 Extinction of Solar Radiation in the Upper Atmosphere.- 3.2.1 Absorption Processes.- 3.2.2 Extinction of Radiation in Gases.- 3.2.3 Extinction of Radiation in the Upper Atmosphere.- 3.2.4 Energy Deposition from Radiation Absorption.- 3.3 Heating and Temperature Profile.- 3.3.1 Heat Production.- 3.3.2 Temperature Increase from Heating.- 3.3.3 Heat Losses by Radiative Coohng.- 3.3.4 Heat Losses by Molecular Heat Conduction.- 3.3.5 Heat Balance Equation and Temperature Profile.- 3.3.6 Estimate of the Thermopause Temperature.- 3.3.7 Temperature and Density Variations.- 3.3.8 Airglow.- 3.4 Thermospheric Winds.- 3.4.1 Diurnal Wind Circulation: Observations.- 3.4.2 Inventory of Relevant Forces.- 3.4.3 Momentum Balance Equation.- 3.4.4 Calculation of Thermospheric Winds.- 3.5 Atmospheric Waves.- 3.5.1 Wave Parameters.- 3.5.2 Acoustic Waves.- 3.5.3 Buoyancy Oscillations.- 3.5.4 Gravity Waves.- 4. Ionosphere.- 4.1 Height Profile of Ionospheric State Parameters.- 4.2 Ionization Production and Loss.- 4.2.1 Ionization Production.- 4.2.2 Ionization Losses.- 4.2.3 Chemical Composition.- 4.3 Density Profile in the Lower Ionosphere.- 4.3.1 Density Balance Equation.- 4.3.2 Density Profile in the E Region.- 4.3.3 Density Profile in the Lower F Region.- 4.4 Density Profile in the Upper Ionosphere.- 4.4.1 Barometric Density Distribution.- 4.4.2 Polarization Field.- 4.4.3 Transport Equilibrium.- 4.4.4 Production-Generated Downward Current.- 4.5 Density Maximum and Ionospheric Time Constants.- 4.5.1 Ionospheric Time Constants.- 4.5.2 Ionization Density Maximum.- 4.5.3 lonoexosphere.- 4.6 Systematic Variations of the Ionization Density.- 4.7 Radio waves in the Ionosphere.- 4.7.1 Plasma Oscillations.- 4.7.2 The Ionosphere as a Dielectric.- 4.7.3 The Ionosphere as a Conducting Reflector.- 4.7.4 Magnetic Field Influence.- 5. Magnetosphere.- 5.1 Fundamentals.- 5.2 The Geomagnetic Field Near the Earth.- 5.3 Charged Particle Motion in the Geomagnetic Field.- 5.3.1 Gyromotion.- 5.3.2 Oscillatory (Bounce) Motion.- 5.3.3 Drift Motion.- 5.3.4 Composite Charge Carrier Motion.- 5.3.5 Coulomb Collisions.- 5.4 Particle Populations in the Inner Magnetosphere.- 5.4.1 Radiation Belt.- 5.4.2 Ring Current.- 5.4.3 Plasmasphere.- 5.5 The Distant Geomagnetic Field.- 5.5.1 Configuration and Classification.- 5.5.2 Dayside Magnetopause Currents.- 5.5.3 Current System of the Geomagnetic Tail.- 5.6 Particle Populations in the Outer Magnetosphere.- 5.6.1 Magnetotail Plasma Sheet.- 5.6.2 Magnetotail Lobe Plasma.- 5.6.3 Magnetospheric Boundary Layer.- 5.7 Magnetoplasma Waves in the Magnetosphere.- 6. Interplanetary Medium.- 6.1 The Solar Wind.- 6.1.1 Properties of the Solar Wind at the Earth’s Orbit.- 6.1.2 Gas Dynamic Model.- 6.1.3 Temperature Profile.- 6.1.4 Extended Gas Dynamic Models.- 6.1.5 Exospheric Model.- 6.1.6 Large-Scale Solar Wind Structure in the Ecliptic.- 6.1.7 Solar Wind Outside the Ecliptic Plane.- 6.2 Interplanetary Magnetic Field.- 6.2.1 Observations.- 6.2.2 Simple Model of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field.- 6.2.3 Magnetic Field Structure Outside the Ecliptic.- 6.2.4 Heliospheric Current Sheet.- 6.2.5 Sector Structure and B? Component.- 6.2.6 Interplanetary Electric Field.- 6.2.7 The Interplanetary Medium as a Magnetoplasma.- 6.3 Magnetoplasma Waves in the Interplanetary Medium.- 6.3.1 Plasma Acoustic Waves.- 6.3.2 Alfven Waves.- 6.3.3 Magnetosonic Waves.- 6.4 Modification of the Solar Wind by the Bow Shock.- 6.4.1 Formation of the Bow Shock.- 6.4.2 Modification of the Solar Wind by the Bow Shock.- 6.4.3 Results from Model Calculations.- 6.4.4 Pressure Balance at the Magnetopause.- 6.4.5 The Bow Shock as a Plasmadynamic Phenomenon.- 6.5 Interaction of the Solar Wind with the Interstellar Medium.- 6.6 Energetic Particles in Interplanetary Space.- 6.6.1 Energetic Particles of Galactic Origin.- 6.6.2 Energetic Particles of Interplanetary Origin.- 6.6.3 Energetic Particles of Solar/Planetary Origin.- 7. Absorption and Dissipation of Solar Wind Energy.- 7.1 Topology of the Polar Upper Atmosphere.- 7.2 Electric Fields and Plasma Convection.- 7.3 Ionospheric Conductivity and Currents.- 7.3.1 Collision Modified Charge Carrier Motion.- 7.3.2 Ionospheric Transverse Conductivity.- 7.3.3 Parallel Conductivity.- 7.3.4 Ionospheric Currents.- 7.3.5 Magnetic Field Effects.- 7.4 Aurorae.- 7.4.1 Morphology.- 7.4.2 Dissipation of Auroral Particle Energy.- 7.4.3 Origin of the Auroral Particles.- 7.5 Neutral Atmospheric Effects.- 7.5.1 Drift-induced Winds.- 7.5.2 Heating.- 7.5.3 Composition Disturbances.- 7.6 Energy Transfer from Solar Wind to Magnetosphere.- 7.6.1 Solar Wind Dynamo.- 7.6.2 Open Magnetosphere.- 7.6.3 Plasma Convection in the Open Magnetosphere.- 7.6.4 Open Magnetosphere with Tail.- 7.6.5 Reconnection.- 7.6.6 Origin of Birkeland Currents.- 7.6.7 Low-Latitude Boundary Layer Dynamo.- 8. Geospheric Storms.- 8.1 Magnetic Storms.- 8.1.1 Regular Variations.- 8.1.2 Magnetic Activity at Low Latitudes.- 8.1.3 Magnetic Activity at High Latitudes.- 8.1.4 Magnetic Activity at Mid-latitudes.- 8.2 Auroral Substorms.- 8.3 Magnetospheric Substorms.- 8.3.1 Growth Phase.- 8.3.2 Expansion Phase.- 8.4 Thermospheric Storms.- 8.4.1 Composition Disturbances at Mid-latitudes.- 8.4.2 Density Disturbances at Low Latitudes.- 8.5 Ionospheric Storms.- 8.5.1 Negative Ionospheric Storms.- 8.5.2 Positive Ionospheric Storms.- 8.6 The Sun as the Origin of Geospheric Storms.- 8.6.1 Solar Mass Ejections and Magnetic Clouds.- 8.6.2 Corotating Interaction Regions.- 8.6.3 Solar Flares.- 8.7 Disturbance Effects on Technological Systems.- A. Formulas, Tables and Derivations.- A.l Selected Mathematical Formulas.- A.2 Physical Parameters of the Earth.- A.3 Planetary Data.- A.4 Model Atmosphere.- A.5 Diffusion Equation for Gases.- A.6 Derivation of the Momentum Balance Equation.- A.7 Energy Balance Equation of an Adiabatic Gas Flow.- A.8 Bernoulh Equation.- A.9 Rankine-Hugoniot Equations.- A.10 Maxwell Equations.- A. 11 Curvature of a Dipole Field Line.- A. 12 Gradient Drift Velocity.- A. 13 System of Equations for Ideal Magnetoplasmadynamics.- A.13.1 Balance Equations of a Magnetoplasma.- A. 13.2 Maxwell Equations and the Generahzed Ohm’s Law.- A. 13.3 Validity Test of the Approximations.- A. 14 Two Theorems of Magnetoplasmadynamics.- A. 15 Magnetoplasma Waves.- A.15.1 Simplification of the System of Equations.- A.15.2 Wave Propagation Parallel to a Magnetic Field.- A. 15.3 Wave Propagation Perpendicular to a Magnetic Field.- A.15.4 Validity Test of the Approximations.- A.16 Plasma Instabilities.- B. Figure and Table References.

Reviews

From the reviews: "This book is aimed towards readers who are interested in space research. The prerequisite for a full and beneficial reading is a knowledge of fundamental physics and mathematics, a knowledge that is usually acquired in undergraduate studies in science or engineering. These reviewers believe that this book will be quite useful for a general physics teacher who wants to find new applications of fundamental physics. … The figures, illustrations and typesetting of the book are of good quality as usually with Springer … ." (Fernande Grandjean, Physicalia Magazine, Vol. 28 (1), 2006)