HAO 2010 PROFILES IN SCIENCE: Dr. Arthur Richmond
Contact
303-497-1570
richmond@ucar.edu
Dr. Arthur D. Richmond has research interests in upper atmospheric dynamics and electrodynamics. He received his B.S. in physics in 1965 and Ph.D. in meteorology in 1970 from UCLA. After various visiting scientist positions, including ones at HAO between 1972 and 1976, and after working as a physicist at the NOAA Space Environment Laboratory from 1980 to 1983, he became a scientist at NCAR in 1983, and joined HAO in 1984.
Publication:
(1) Ionospheric Application of Poynting’s Theorem
Richmond, A.D. (2010), On the ionospheric application of Poynting's Theorem, J. Geophys. Res., 115, A10311, doi:10.1029/2010JA015768.
Abstract:
It has been proposed that the geomagnetic-field-aligned component of the perturbation Poynting vector above the ionosphere, as obtained from the cross product of the electric and magnetic-perturbation fields observed on a spacecraft, may be used to estimate the field-line-integrated electromagnetic energy dissipation in the ionosphere below. Richmond clarified conditions under which this approximation may be either valid or invalid. It was shown that the downward field-aligned component of the perturbation Poynting vector can underestimate the electromagnetic-energy dissipation in regions of high ionospheric Pedersen conductance, and it can significantly overestimate the dissipation in regions of low conductance. Local values of upward perturbation Poynting vector do not necessarily correspond to net ionospheric generation of electromagnetic energy along that geomagnetic field line. An Equipotential-Boundary Poynting-Flux (EBPF) theorem, as stated next to the figure (right), places a constraint on where the electromagnetic energy flux is dissipated. Knowledge of where the energy dissipation occurs is very important for the modeling of upper-atmospheric dynamics.
Publication:
(2) A computationally compact representation of Magnetic-Apex and Quasi-Dipole coordinates with smooth base vectors
Emmert, J.T., A.D. Richmond, and D.P. Drob (2010), A computationally compact representation of Magnetic-Apex and Quasi-Dipole coordinates with smooth base vectors, J. Geophys. Res., 115, A08322, doi:10.1029/2010JA015326.
Abstract:
Many structural and dynamical features of the ionized and neutral upper atmosphere are strongly organized by the geomagnetic field, and are most conveniently represented with respect to magnetic coordinates. John Emmert (Naval Research Laboratory, NRL), Art Richmond (HAO), and Douglas Drob (NRL) developed a compact, smooth, and robust representation of the transformation from geodetic to Quasi-Dipole and Modified Apex coordinates. They made the computer code available to the community for evaluating the coordinates and base vectors, as auxiliary material to their publication.
