The Earth's Plasmasphere [Paperback]

Historical description and revision of ideas concerning the plasmasphere for researchers in space physics and historians of science.This is the first monograph to describe the historical development of ideas concerning the plasmasphere by the pioneering researchers themselves. The volume describes the early discoveries from Soviet rocket observations of Gringauz, and the contemporaneous breakthroughs in the USA of Carpenter from ground based whistler measurements. The monograph then brings our picture of the plasmasphere up-to-date by presenting experimental and observational results, and proposing mathematical and physical theories to explain its formation. The volume will be invaluable for researchers in space physics, and will also appeal to those interested in the history of science.This is the first monograph to describe the historical development of ideas concerning the plasmasphere by the pioneering researchers themselves. The volume describes the early discoveries from Soviet rocket observations of Gringauz, and the contemporaneous breakthroughs in the USA of Carpenter from ground based whistler measurements. The monograph then brings our picture of the plasmasphere up-to-date by presenting experimental and observational results, and proposing mathematical and physical theories to explain its formation. The volume will be invaluable for researchers in space physics, and will also appeal to those interested in the history of science.The plasmasphere is the vast doughnut-shaped region of the magnetosphere that forms a cold thermal plasma cloud encircling the Earth, terminating abruptly at a radial distance of 30,000 km over a sharp discontinuity known as the plasmapause. This is the first monograph to describe the historical development of ideas concerning the plasmasphere by the pioneering researchers themselves. The monograph brings our picture of the plasmasphere up to date by presenting experimental and observational results of the past three decades, anlˆ