High-Latitude Space Plasma Physics, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1983 Nobel Foundation Symposia Series, Vol. 54

Nobel symposium No. 54 on High Latitude Magnetospheric/Iono­ spheric Plasma Physics was organized in Kiruna, Sweden on March 22-25, 1982 by Kiruna Geophysical Institute and EISCAT Scientific Association. Some 50 leading experts from Western Europe, America and USSR were invited to the Symposium. One main purpose of the Symposium was to prepare for the intense European research effort in space plasma physics in the middle 1980's, in which the EISCAT facilities and the Swedish satellite Viking are two of the more important constituents. The prograuune of the symposium was tied to the physics of those regions of near space where EISCAT and Viking are expected to pro­ vide important new observational results. This is rather well covered by the t it Ie of these proceedings: High Lat itude Space Plasma Physics. The first two sessions dealt with the physics of the high latitude ionosphere and the third one with how this part of near space is affected by the properties of the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field. The remaining three sessions covered fairly extensively the high latitude magnetospheric physics at altitudes of 1-2 earth radii, which is the main scien­ tific object of the Viking project. The Prograuune COllDlittee of the Kiruna Nobel Symposium was composed of the following European scientists: P. Bauer (Issy-les-Moulineaux), R. Bostrom (Uppsala), C. G. FalthallDlar (Stockholm), T. Hagfors (Kiruna, Cochairman), o. Holt (Troms,s), B. Hultqvist (Kiruna, Cochairman), H. Kohl (Lindau), J. Oksman (Oulu), H. Rishbeth (Chilton), and L. Stenflo (Ume!).

The EISCAT Facility.- The Viking Satellite.- Physics of the High Latitude Ionosphere.- The Role of the Auroral Ionosphere in Magnetospheric Substorms.- Characteristics of the Polar Cap at Ionospheric Levels and Present Understanding of the Physical Processes that give Rise to these Characteristics.- The Low Altitude Cleft: Plasma Entry and Magnetospheric Topology.- Incoherent-Scatter Radar Measurements of Electric Field and Plasma in the Auroral Ionosphere.- Irregularities and Instabilities in the Auroral F-Region.- Significance of Scatter Radar Studies of E and F Region Irregularities at High Latitudes.- Ionospheric Modification and Stimulated Emissions.- Plasma Physics on Auroral Field Lines: The Formation of Ion Conic Distributions.- Solar Wind Influence on the High Latitude Ionosphere.- Dependence of the High-Latitude Ionospheric Fields and Plasma Characteristics on the Properties of the Interplanetary Medium.- Solar Wind-Magnetosphere Energy Coupling.- Interpretation of Observed Relations between Solar Wind Characteristics and Effects at Ionospheric Altitudes.- High Latitude Magnetospheric Physics above a few Thousand Kilometers.- Cold Plasma Distribution above a few Thousand Kilometers at High Latitudes.- The Hot Ion Composition, Energy, and Pitch Angle Characteristics above the Auroral Zone Ionosphere.- The Hot Electrons in and above the Auroral Ionosphere: Observations and Physical Implications.- On the Composition of the Ring Current and the Plasmasheet and what it tells about the Sources of these Hot Plasma Populations.- Birkeland Currents: Present Understanding and some Remaining Questions.- High Latitude Electromagnetic Plasma Wave Emission.- Correlation of Auroral Kilometric Radiation with Visual Auroras and with Birkeland Currents.- A Review of Electrostatic Waves in the Topside Ionosphere.- Effects of Heavy Ions on Microscopic Plasma Physics in the Magnetosphere.- Anomalous Resistivity on Auroral Field Lines and its Role in Auroral Particle Acceleration.- Solitary Waves and Double Layers as the Source of Parallel Electric Fields in the Auroral Acceleration Region.- Numerical Simulations of Plasma Double Layers.- Causes of Particle Precipitation along Auroral Field Lines.- An Alfvén Wave Model of Auroral Arcs.- Participants.