Preliminary analysis of NASA optical data obtained in Barium Ion Cloud Experiment of September 21, 1971

This paper reviews the optical data obtained by NASA in the joint NASA-MPE experiment conducted on September 21, 1971, involving the release of a barium cloud at an altitude of about 31,500 km over Colombia, South America. The data indicated an anomalously high rate of elongation and an unexpectedly large rate of deceleration of the main core of the ion cloud. The outermost striational features achieved a steady velocity within a few minutes, thus indicating that they had acquired the velocity of the ambient plasma. From the observed drift of these striations, one deduces an electric field that, when referred to a coordinate system rotating with the earth, has a meridional component directed toward the interior of the magnetic loop of 0.14 mv/m and a component perpendicular to the meridional plane of 0.15 mv/m directed to the west. There are grounds for believing that the main core and those striational features in its immediate proximity were coupled. An angular deviation of about 15° was observed between the field line as delineated by the cloud and the field line resulting from the earth's internal magnetic sources. This implies a significant perturbation due to magnetospheric current systems.