Space Research

Cospar Space Research, Volume XVII covers the proceedings of the Open Meetings of the Working Groups on Physical Sciences of the 20th Plenary Meeting of COSPAR, held in Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 7-18, 1977. The book focuses on remote sensing of the earth''s environment, atmospheric response to solar and geomagnetic activity, ionosphere, magnetosphere, moon and planets, and cosmic dust. The selection first reviews the development of space research, including sensing the earth from spacecraft; resources, weather, and climate; solar wind and its interactions; galactic system; and the moon and planets. The book also takes a look at the depression of remotely sensed surface temperatures by a dust-laden tropical atmosphere and forest fire fuel mapping from LANDSAT. The text describes the effects of UV variability on stratospheric thermal structure and trace constituents; estimates of the stratospheric temperature variation in response to changes of the flux of solar UV radiation; and electrical conductivity measurements in the stratosphere using balloon and parachute-born blunt probes. The publication also discusses the composition of the mid-latitude winter mesosphere and lower thermosphere and global thermospheric models of neutral density, exospheric temperature, and turbopause height. The selection is a fine reference for readers interested in space research.