Dynamic Coupling Between Earth's Atmospheric and Plasma Environments

This book describes the relationship between the atmosphere and the external plasma of Earth in an unconventional manner. While the main mechanical energy is located in the dense atmosphere, the presence of Earth's plasma environment, which is immersed in the magnetosphere, causes a number of very interesting effects on the atmosphere. A list of such effects includes magnetic substorms, magnetic storms and aurora to the dynamics of the upper atmosphere, heating, thermal expansion, and vertical and horizontal winds. Particle precipitation produces excess ionization and electric currents, causes electric fields, affects recombination and modifies chemical reactions. These are processes which may become important in the climate. The collected articles provide an overview of these effects.

This volume is aimed at graduate students and researchers active in the areas of atmospheric science and space science.

Previously published in Space Science Reviews, Vol. 168/1-4, 2012.

From the Contents: Earth’s Interacting Atmospheric and Plasma Envelopes: Conceptual Remarks.- Interactions Between the Lower, Middle and Upper Atmosphere.- The Near-Earth Plasma Environment.- Trends in the Neutral and Ionized Upper Atmosphere.- Thermospheric Density: An Overview of Temporal and Spatial Variations.- Global Response of the Ionosphere to Atmospheric Tides Forced From Below: Recent Progress Based on Satellite Measurements.- A Review of the Effects of Non-Migrating Atmospheric Tides on the Earth’s Low-Latitude Ionosphere.- In-Situ CHAMP Observation of Ionosphere-Thermosphere Coupling.- Observations of Stratosphere-Troposphere Coupling During Major Solar Eclipses from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Constellation.

Dr. Rudolf Treumann has been a Professor of Geophysics at Munich University since 1988. He was also a Senior Scientist at Max Planck Institute in Garching from 1980-2006. Prior to that, he served as an Assistant Professor at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. As for his publications, he has contributed to 250 scientific works, among them are two textbooks: Basic Space Plasma Physics (p. 1996) and Advanced Space Plasma Physics (p. 1997). He was also the Co-editor of the Journal of Geophysics Research from 1990-1996, and has co-edited several Springer monographs (SSSI 6, 15, 34 and 39). He is a Fellow of European Academy of Sciences and won the French Gay-Lussac-Humboldt Award for Scientific Achievements in 2004.