Simulation of dusty plasmas and characterization of their effects on irregularities in the upper atmosphere
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Earth's atmosphere is a complex system composed of different layers of gas surrounding the Earth. Approximately between 50 and 1000 km above Earth's surface, solar radiation ionizes the gas to from a region of plasma in our atmosphere known as the ionosphere. Dynamics in the ionosphere are driven by a number of mechanisms. The predictable portion of the ionosphere is made up of three layers that shift in height and width depending on the time of day and the solar activity. In addition, the ionosphere hosts a number of transient non-dusty and dusty plasma irregularities that can affect the dynamics of the ionosphere. Understanding and predicting the dynamics of these irregularities is important in properly communicating between ground systems and space satellites because the ionosphere lies directly between these two. While non-dusty ionospheric irregularities have been studied for many years, the dust component in ionospheric phenomenon is only beginning to be considered, even though dusty plasma dynamics are far more complex to understand and predict. In order to better mitigate communication error in the ionosphere, a deeper understanding of the physics and dynamics of dusty plasmas is required. This thesis describes the simulation of dusty plasmas in ionospheric phenomena, namely polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSEs) and meteors. The simulation methods utilized are a 1-D (PMSE) and 2-D (meteor) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. The simulations incorporate additional models for simulating the composition and growth of dust particles, the charge attachment of plasma particles to dust particles, and the collisions with neutral particles in the ionosphere. The PMSE simulation results demonstrate that presence of dust particles can lead to the development of the ice-plasma growth instability, which can lead to the development and detection of sharp small-scale structures as seen in PMSE rocket and radar measurements. In addition, the meteor simulation shows that the presence of dust during meteor expansion can reduce the overall diffusion rate of the meteoric particles and extend the detection lifetime of the meteor. These meteor simulation results will aid in explaining the detection of long duration meteor trails. The two simulations presented in this thesis are only a first step in exploring the effects that dusty plasmas can have on irregularities in the ionosphere. Understanding how dust can alter the dynamics of ionospheric irregularities will assist in reducing the noise and error when communicating through Earth's ionosphere in the future.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2016 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Yee, Jonathan Christopher | |
|---|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. | |
| Primary advisor | Close, Sigrid, 1971- | |
| Thesis advisor | Close, Sigrid, 1971- | |
| Thesis advisor | Cantwell, Brian | |
| Thesis advisor | Lele, Sanjiva K. (Sanjiva Keshava), 1958- | |
| Advisor | Cantwell, Brian | |
| Advisor | Lele, Sanjiva K. (Sanjiva Keshava), 1958- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Jonathan Yee. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2016. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2016 by Jonathan Christopher Yee
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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