Physics of Earth and Space Environments – serie

This book presents a collection of reviews prepared for the conference “Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Safety,” held in Kaliningrad, Russia, in July 2012. It provides the reader insight into the current developments in the following fields: physics of elementary processes; ionosphere dynamics; ball lightning and aerosol structures; as well as remote detection of the radioactive and highly toxic substances. The diversity of scope presented offers readers an up-to-date overview of trends, questions and their solutions.

This book presents a collection of reviews prepared for the conference “Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Safety,” held in Kaliningrad, Russia, in July 2012. It provides the reader insight into the current developments in the following fields: physics of elementary processes; ionosphere dynamics; ball lightning and aerosol structures; as well as remote detection of the radioactive and highly toxic substances. The diversity of scope presented offers readers an up-to-date overview of trends, questions and their solutions.

This book offers a comprehensive review of our current understanding of the planetary boundary layer, particularly the turbulent exchanges of momentum, heat and passive scalars between the surface of the Earth and the atmosphere. It presents and discusses the observations and the theory of the turbulent boundary layer, both for homogeneous and more realistic heterogeneous surface conditions, as well as the dispersion of tracers. Lastly it addresses the main problems arising due to turbulence in weather, climate and atmospheric composition numerical models. Written for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate-level students and atmospheric researchers, it is also of interest to anyone wanting to understand the findings and obtain an update on problems that have yet to be solved.

This book uses the Lagrangian approach, especially useful and convenient for studying large-scale transport and mixing in the ocean, to present a detailed view of ocean circulation. This approach focuses on simulations and on monitoring the trajectories of fluid particles, which are governed by advection equations. The first chapter of the book is devoted to dynamical systems theory methods, which provide the framework, methodology and key concepts for the Lagrangian approach. The book then moves on to an analysis of chaotic mixing and cross-stream transport in idealized models of oceanic meandering currents like the Gulfstream in the Atlantic, the Kuroshio in the Pacific, and Antarctic Circumpolar Current, after which the current state of physical oceanography is reviewed. The latter half of the book applies the techniques and methods already described in order to study eddies, currents, fronts and large-scale mixing and transport in the Far-Eastern seas and the north-western part of the Pacific Ocean. Finally, the book concludes with a discussion of Lagrangian simulation and monitoring of water contamination after the Fukushima disaster of 2011. The propagation of Fukushima-derived radionuclides, surface transport across the Kuroshio Extension current, and the role of mesoscale eddies in the transport of Fukushima-derived cesium isotopes in the ocean are examined, and a comparison of simulation results with actual measurements are presented.Written by some of the world leaders in the application of Lagrangian methods in oceanography, this title will be of benefit to the oceanographic community by presenting the necessary background of the Lagrangian approach in an accessible manner.

This book offers a comprehensive review of our current understanding of the planetary boundary layer, particularly the turbulent exchanges of momentum, heat and passive scalars between the surface of the Earth and the atmosphere. It presents and discusses the observations and the theory of the turbulent boundary layer, both for homogeneous and more realistic heterogeneous surface conditions, as well as the dispersion of tracers. Lastly it addresses the main problems arising due to turbulence in weather, climate and atmospheric composition numerical models. Written for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate-level students and atmospheric researchers, it is also of interest to anyone wanting to understand the findings and obtain an update on problems that have yet to be solved.

This book uses the Lagrangian approach, especially useful and convenient for studying large-scale transport and mixing in the ocean, to present a detailed view of ocean circulation. This approach focuses on simulations and on monitoring the trajectories of fluid particles, which are governed by advection equations. The first chapter of the book is devoted to dynamical systems theory methods, which provide the framework, methodology and key concepts for the Lagrangian approach. The book then moves on to an analysis of chaotic mixing and cross-stream transport in idealized models of oceanic meandering currents like the Gulfstream in the Atlantic, the Kuroshio in the Pacific, and Antarctic Circumpolar Current, after which the current state of physical oceanography is reviewed. The latter half of the book applies the techniques and methods already described in order to study eddies, currents, fronts and large-scale mixing and transport in the Far-Eastern seas and the north-western part of the Pacific Ocean. Finally, the book concludes with a discussion of Lagrangian simulation and monitoring of water contamination after the Fukushima disaster of 2011. The propagation of Fukushima-derived radionuclides, surface transport across the Kuroshio Extension current, and the role of mesoscale eddies in the transport of Fukushima-derived cesium isotopes in the ocean are examined, and a comparison of simulation results with actual measurements are presented.Written by some of the world leaders in the application of Lagrangian methods in oceanography, this title will be of benefit to the oceanographic community by presenting the necessary background of the Lagrangian approach in an accessible manner.

All aspects of our lives are influenced by the weather and especially severe weather events - such considerations tend to become more pertinent as such weather events may become more frequent with global warming. It is evident that better weather forecasts for the next few hours, days or even weeks have a high economic value for our developed and densely populated world. Ground and air traffic management benefits, as does the construction industry, tourism, agriculture and big outdoor events such as the Olympic games. Weather fore­ casting nowadays relies on numerical weather prediction models. The reliability and accuracy of forecasts however depends not only on the quality and resolution of these models, but to a high degree on the density and quality of input data from observations. Weather radar measurements complement current data such as ground observations and soundings at smaller scales and satellite observations on larger scales. Targeted weather radar measurements additionally give detailed insight into the processes governing the developments of, for example, frontal systems and thunderstorms, which is needed for improving the model quality by comparing the observations with model forecasts. Weather radar observations on their own can be used directly for short-term forecasting, called nowcasting, just by observ­ ing the developments of weather systems some 100 km around and extrapolating the observations with knowledge of their typical behaviour. Finally, with reliable quantitative measurements of area precipitation by radar, flood forecasts will be improved.

The monograph is devoted to a new branch of remote sounding of the iono­ sphere - ionospheric tomography. Adoption of tomographic methods seems to be an inevitable stage of the evolution of almost all diagnostic systems. Ad­ vanced techniques for remote sensing and progressive means for data process­ ing open the possibility of reconstructing the spatial structure of the medium on the base of tomography. In this book, mainly the problems of satellite radio tomography of the ionosphere are discussed, and only one subsection is alloted to optical ionospheric tomography. Modern radio sounding techniques make it possible by means of satellite facilities to probe the ionosphere within a wide range of varying positions of transmitting-receiving systems and to apply tomographic methods. In this connection, in recent years, active tomo­ graphic investigations of the ionosphere have been done. The purpose of this monograph is to set forth the tomographic methods developed for recovering the 2-D and 3-D structure of the ionosphere and to discuss experimental implementation of these methods. The topic of discus­ sion is reconstruction of electron density distribution and effective collision frequency. The structure of the ionosphere is known to be quite complex; along with a quasi-stratified background with large scale variations in elec­ tron density, there are also local irregularities of various scale sizes, including turbulent volumes.

Measurement techniques form the basis of our knowledge about atmospheric composition and chemistry. Presently, important questions of atmospheric chemistry center on urban pollution, free-radical chemistry, degradation of greenhouse gases and the budgets of tropospheric and stratospheric ozone.Among the many different optical spectroscopic methods that are in use, DOAS has emerged as a universal technique to measure the concentrations of atmospheric trace gases by making use of the characteristic absorption features of gas molecules along a path of known length in the open atmosphere. This book reviews the basics of atmospheric chemistry, radiation transport, and optical spectroscopy before detailing the principles underlying DOAS. The second part of the book describes the design and application of DOAS instruments as well as the evaluation and interpretation of spectra. The recent expansion of DOAS application to the imaging of trace gas distributions by ground, aircraft, and satellite-based instruments is also covered.Written for graduate students and researchers with a general background in environmental physics this book especially addresses the needs of those working in the field of atmospheric chemistry, pollution monitoring, and volcanology.

Planetary Aeronomy is a modern and concise introduction to the underlying physical and chemical processes that govern the formation and evolution of the upper atmospheres of planets. The general approach employed permits consideration of the growing number of extrasolar planets, the detailed observation of which will become possible over the next decades. The book explains the physics behind many atmospheric processes, which are relevant for the evolution of planetary atmospheres and their water inventories, and also contains useful scaling laws and analytical expressions that can be applied to any planet. Readers thus gain insight into the evolution of terrestrial planets and their long-time habitability, atmospheric stability, etc. This volume can be used both as graduate textbook for students wishing to specialize in the field as well as succinct compendium for researchers in the field.

Developments in three-dimensional cloud radiation over the past few decades are assessed and distilled into this contributed volume. Chapters are authored by subject-matter experts who address a broad audience of graduate students, researchers, and anyone interested in cloud-radiation processes in the solar and infrared spectral regions. After two introductory chapters and a section on the fundamental physics and computational techniques, the volume extensively treats two main application areas: the impact of clouds on the Earth's radiation budget, which is an essential aspect of climate modeling; and remote observation of clouds, especially with the advanced sensors on current and future satellite missions.

Since the publication of the ?rst edition of this book, we have become deeply involved in astrophysics research, particularly the study of the interstellar medium. Modeling scattering particles as layered spheres or as aggregates of spherical scatterers, expanding the electromagnetic ?eld in a series of vector multipole ?elds, and resorting to the T-matrix approach for averaging over the orientations of a dispersion of nonspherical particles are e?ective tools for studying scattering theory, which we described and extensively applied in the ?rst edition of this book. In fact, these tools also proved to be adequate for studying cosmic dust, even when they must be applied to a new range of current problems. We refer, for example, to the description of mechanical interaction of electromagnetic radiation with cosmic dust grains, which is believed to be of paramount importance in determining the dynamics of the grains. Since this book is conceived as a summary of our work, the desire to encompassallnewtopicsledustorevisebothitscontentanditsstructure. Of course, beyond the changes that we outline below, all chapters were carefully revised. Marginal changes and additions were made in Chap. 1, while Chap. 2 has been substantially revised to cover the light of general polarization and, in particular, with thedescription ofthestate ofpolarization ofelectromagnetic waves of general form. In this chapter we reserved ample space for the r- resentation of the kinematics of the scattering processes both in the plane of scattering and in the meridional planes.

The study of sea waves has always been in the focus of mankind's atten­ tion. This is attributed not only to a desire to understand the behaviour in seas and oceans, but also, it has some practical necessity. Developing up-to­ date wind wave numerical methods requires detailed mathematical modelling, starting with wave generation, development, propagation and transformation on the surface in different water areas under quasi-stationary conditions, up to a synthesis of climatic features observed under different wave generation conditions in oceans, sea or coastal areas. The present monograph considers wind waves in terms of the most general formulation of the problem as a probable hydrodynamic process with wide spatial variability. It ranges between the global scale of the oceans, whose typical size is comparable with the Earth's radius, to the regional and local scales of the seas, including water areas limited in space with significant current or depth gradients in coastal zones, where waves cease their existence having propagated tens of thousand miles.

All aspects of our lives are influenced by the weather and especially severe weather events - such considerations tend to become more pertinent as such weather events may become more frequent with global warming. It is evident that better weather forecasts for the next few hours, days or even weeks have a high economic value for our developed and densely populated world. Ground and air traffic management benefits, as does the construction industry, tourism, agriculture and big outdoor events such as the Olympic games. Weather fore­ casting nowadays relies on numerical weather prediction models. The reliability and accuracy of forecasts however depends not only on the quality and resolution of these models, but to a high degree on the density and quality of input data from observations. Weather radar measurements complement current data such as ground observations and soundings at smaller scales and satellite observations on larger scales. Targeted weather radar measurements additionally give detailed insight into the processes governing the developments of, for example, frontal systems and thunderstorms, which is needed for improving the model quality by comparing the observations with model forecasts. Weather radar observations on their own can be used directly for short-term forecasting, called nowcasting, just by observ­ ing the developments of weather systems some 100 km around and extrapolating the observations with knowledge of their typical behaviour. Finally, with reliable quantitative measurements of area precipitation by radar, flood forecasts will be improved.

The monograph is devoted to a new branch of remote sounding of the iono­ sphere - ionospheric tomography. Adoption of tomographic methods seems to be an inevitable stage of the evolution of almost all diagnostic systems. Ad­ vanced techniques for remote sensing and progressive means for data process­ ing open the possibility of reconstructing the spatial structure of the medium on the base of tomography. In this book, mainly the problems of satellite radio tomography of the ionosphere are discussed, and only one subsection is alloted to optical ionospheric tomography. Modern radio sounding techniques make it possible by means of satellite facilities to probe the ionosphere within a wide range of varying positions of transmitting-receiving systems and to apply tomographic methods. In this connection, in recent years, active tomo­ graphic investigations of the ionosphere have been done. The purpose of this monograph is to set forth the tomographic methods developed for recovering the 2-D and 3-D structure of the ionosphere and to discuss experimental implementation of these methods. The topic of discus­ sion is reconstruction of electron density distribution and effective collision frequency. The structure of the ionosphere is known to be quite complex; along with a quasi-stratified background with large scale variations in elec­ tron density, there are also local irregularities of various scale sizes, including turbulent volumes.

Light is the essential source of information about the surrounding world for most of us. We see objects of di?erent brightness and colours, or, in scienti?c terms, we distinguish objects by the way they re?ect light of di?erent wa- lengths with varying e?ciency. It was exciting for both of us to learn that scienti?c instruments can expand our senses and provide information from this very same radiation that goes far beyond the simple recognition of - jects. Theabilityto“see”thecompositionoftheairsurroundingusandabove our heads, to us and others, one of the most fascinating aspects of the app- cation of modern technology to study the atmosphere. This fascination drove many of the applications of the Di?erential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) method presented in this book, and continues to be the motivation for many current developments. DOAS is an elegant and powerful analytical method to study the at- sphere and is based on the relatively simple principles of classical absorption spectroscopy. It has therefore always been quite surprising to us that this method has not found wider use in atmospheric research and air-quality m- itoring. We have introduced many university students and researchers to DOAS, often wishing that we could improve our e?orts with a comprehensive text that describes both the theoretical basis and the practical applications of the method.

Planetary Aeronomy is a modern and concise introduction to the underlying physical and chemical processes that govern the formation and evolution of the upper atmospheres of planets. The general approach employed permits consideration of the growing number of extrasolar planets, the detailed observation of which will become possible over the next decades. The book explains the physics behind many atmospheric processes, which are relevant for the evolution of planetary atmospheres and their water inventories, and also contains useful scaling laws and analytical expressions that can be applied to any planet. Readers thus gain insight into the evolution of terrestrial planets and their long-time habitability, atmospheric stability, etc. This volume can be used both as graduate textbook for students wishing to specialize in the field as well as succinct compendium for researchers in the field.

Developments in three-dimensional cloud radiation over the past few decades are assessed and distilled into this contributed volume. Chapters are authored by subject-matter experts who address a broad audience of graduate students, researchers, and anyone interested in cloud-radiation processes in the solar and infrared spectral regions. After two introductory chapters and a section on the fundamental physics and computational techniques, the volume extensively treats two main application areas: the impact of clouds on the Earth's radiation budget, which is an essential aspect of climate modeling; and remote observation of clouds, especially with the advanced sensors on current and future satellite missions.

Since the publication of the ?rst edition of this book, we have become deeply involved in astrophysics research, particularly the study of the interstellar medium. Modeling scattering particles as layered spheres or as aggregates of spherical scatterers, expanding the electromagnetic ?eld in a series of vector multipole ?elds, and resorting to the T-matrix approach for averaging over the orientations of a dispersion of nonspherical particles are e?ective tools for studying scattering theory, which we described and extensively applied in the ?rst edition of this book. In fact, these tools also proved to be adequate for studying cosmic dust, even when they must be applied to a new range of current problems. We refer, for example, to the description of mechanical interaction of electromagnetic radiation with cosmic dust grains, which is believed to be of paramount importance in determining the dynamics of the grains. Since this book is conceived as a summary of our work, the desire to encompassallnewtopicsledustorevisebothitscontentanditsstructure. Of course, beyond the changes that we outline below, all chapters were carefully revised. Marginal changes and additions were made in Chap. 1, while Chap. 2 has been substantially revised to cover the light of general polarization and, in particular, with thedescription ofthestate ofpolarization ofelectromagnetic waves of general form. In this chapter we reserved ample space for the r- resentation of the kinematics of the scattering processes both in the plane of scattering and in the meridional planes.

The study of sea waves has always been in the focus of mankind's atten­ tion. This is attributed not only to a desire to understand the behaviour in seas and oceans, but also, it has some practical necessity. Developing up-to­ date wind wave numerical methods requires detailed mathematical modelling, starting with wave generation, development, propagation and transformation on the surface in different water areas under quasi-stationary conditions, up to a synthesis of climatic features observed under different wave generation conditions in oceans, sea or coastal areas. The present monograph considers wind waves in terms of the most general formulation of the problem as a probable hydrodynamic process with wide spatial variability. It ranges between the global scale of the oceans, whose typical size is comparable with the Earth's radius, to the regional and local scales of the seas, including water areas limited in space with significant current or depth gradients in coastal zones, where waves cease their existence having propagated tens of thousand miles.

Cosmogenic radionuclides are radioactive isotopes which are produced by natural processes and distributed within the Earth system. With a holistic view of the environment the authors show in this book how cosmogenic radionuclides can be used to trace and to reconstruct the history of a large variety of processes. They discuss the way in which cosmogenic radionuclides can assist in the quantification of complex processes in the present-day environment. The book aims to demonstrate to the reader the strength of analytic tools based on cosmogenic radionuclides, their contribution to almost any field of modern science, and how these tools may assist in the solution of many present and future problems that we face here on Earth.The book provides a comprehensive discussion of the basic principles behind the applications of cosmogenic (and other) radionuclides as environmental tracers and dating tools. The second section of the book discusses in some detail the production of radionuclides by cosmic radiation, their transport and distribution in the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, their storage in natural archives, and how they are measured. The third section of the book presents a number of examples selected to illustrate typical tracer and dating applications in a number of different spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere, solar physics and astronomy). At the same time the authors have outlined the limitations of the use of cosmogenic radionuclides.Written on a level understandable by graduate students without specialist skills in physics or mathematics, the book addresses a wide audience, ranging from archaeology, biophysics, and geophysics, to atmospheric physics, hydrology, astrophysics and space science.

The impact of anthropogenic activities on our atmospheric environment is of growing public concern and satellite-based techniques now provide an essential component of observational strategies on regional and global scales. The purpose of this book is to summarise the state of the art in the field in general, while describing both key techniques and findings in particular. It opens with an historical perspective of the field together with the basic principles of remote sensing from space. Three chapters follow on the techniques and on the solutions to the problems associated with the various spectral regions in which observations are made. The particular challenges posed by aerosols and clouds are covered in the next two chapters. Of special importance is the accuracy and reliability of remote sensing data and these issues are covered in a chapter on validation. The final section of the book is concerned with the exploitation of data, with chapters on observational aspects, which includes both individual and synergistic studies, and on the comparison of global and regional observations with chemical transport and climate models and the added value that the interaction brings to both. The book concludes with scientific needs and likely future developments in the field, and the necessary actions to be taken if we are to have the global observation system that the Earth needs in its present, deteriorating state.The appendices provide a comprehensive list of satellite instruments, global representations of some ancillary data such as fire counts and light pollution, a list of abbreviations and acronyms, and a set of colourful timelines indicating the satellite coverage of tropospheric composition in the foreseeable future. Altogether, this book will be a timely reference and overview for anyone working at the interface of environmental, atmospheric and space sciences.

The impact of anthropogenic activities on our atmospheric environment is of growing public concern and satellite-based techniques now provide an essential component of observational strategies on regional and global scales. The purpose of this book is to summarise the state of the art in the field in general, while describing both key techniques and findings in particular. It opens with an historical perspective of the field together with the basic principles of remote sensing from space. Three chapters follow on the techniques and on the solutions to the problems associated with the various spectral regions in which observations are made. The particular challenges posed by aerosols and clouds are covered in the next two chapters. Of special importance is the accuracy and reliability of remote sensing data and these issues are covered in a chapter on validation. The final section of the book is concerned with the exploitation of data, with chapters on observational aspects, which includes both individual and synergistic studies, and on the comparison of global and regional observations with chemical transport and climate models and the added value that the interaction brings to both. The book concludes with scientific needs and likely future developments in the field, and the necessary actions to be taken if we are to have the global observation system that the Earth needs in its present, deteriorating state.The appendices provide a comprehensive list of satellite instruments, global representations of some ancillary data such as fire counts and light pollution, a list of abbreviations and acronyms, and a set of colourful timelines indicating the satellite coverage of tropospheric composition in the foreseeable future. Altogether, this book will be a timely reference and overview for anyone working at the interface of environmental, atmospheric and space sciences.

Cosmogenic radionuclides are radioactive isotopes which are produced by natural processes and distributed within the Earth system. With a holistic view of the environment the authors show in this book how cosmogenic radionuclides can be used to trace and to reconstruct the history of a large variety of processes. They discuss the way in which cosmogenic radionuclides can assist in the quantification of complex processes in the present-day environment. The book aims to demonstrate to the reader the strength of analytic tools based on cosmogenic radionuclides, their contribution to almost any field of modern science, and how these tools may assist in the solution of many present and future problems that we face here on Earth.The book provides a comprehensive discussion of the basic principles behind the applications of cosmogenic (and other) radionuclides as environmental tracers and dating tools. The second section of the book discusses in some detail the production of radionuclides by cosmic radiation, their transport and distribution in the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, their storage in natural archives, and how they are measured. The third section of the book presents a number of examples selected to illustrate typical tracer and dating applications in a number of different spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere, solar physics and astronomy). At the same time the authors have outlined the limitations of the use of cosmogenic radionuclides.Written on a level understandable by graduate students without specialist skills in physics or mathematics, the book addresses a wide audience, ranging from archaeology, biophysics, and geophysics, to atmospheric physics, hydrology, astrophysics and space science.

From July 7 to 12, 2008 in Zelenogradsk, a cosy resort on the bank of the Baltic Sea near Kaliningrad in Russia, the 1st International Conference “Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Safety (AIS-2008)” has been carried out. The State Russian University of I. Kant, Semenov Institute of chemical physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushkov Institute of terrestrial magnetism and radio-waves propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Russian Committee on Ball Lightning (BL) have acted as organizers of the conference. Financial support was made by Russian Fund of Fundamental Research Project N. 08-03-06041 and European Of?ce of Aerospace Research and Development Grant award FA8655-08-1-5052. The International conference “Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Safety” (AIS-2008) was devoted to (i) the analysis of the atmosphere–ionosphere response on natural and man-made processes, the reasons of occurrence of the various accompanying geophysical phenomena, and an estimation of possible consequences of their in?uence on the person and technological systems; (ii) the study of the monitoring possibility and search of the ways for the risk level decrease. Discussion of the physical and chemical processes accompanying the observable geophysical p- nomena was undertaken. One can see from a list of the Conference sections that questions of safety took only rather modest place, so main topics of the Conference became discussion of processes taking place in the atmosphere, ionosphere and methods of monitoring these processes.

The book presents a collection of articles devoted to atmospheric and ionospheric science reported during the Conference “Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Safety” held in Kaliningrad, Russia in July 2010. It consists of reviews devoted to physics of elementary processes, aerosols, ionosphere dynamics, microwave discharges and plasmoids. Such a wide range of topics presents a comprehensive analysis of this atmospheric science including trends and questions which exist to be solved.

From July 7 to 12, 2008 in Zelenogradsk, a cosy resort on the bank of the Baltic Sea near Kaliningrad in Russia, the 1st International Conference “Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Safety (AIS-2008)” has been carried out. The State Russian University of I. Kant, Semenov Institute of chemical physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushkov Institute of terrestrial magnetism and radio-waves propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Russian Committee on Ball Lightning (BL) have acted as organizers of the conference. Financial support was made by Russian Fund of Fundamental Research Project N. 08-03-06041 and European Of?ce of Aerospace Research and Development Grant award FA8655-08-1-5052. The International conference “Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Safety” (AIS-2008) was devoted to (i) the analysis of the atmosphere–ionosphere response on natural and man-made processes, the reasons of occurrence of the various accompanying geophysical phenomena, and an estimation of possible consequences of their in?uence on the person and technological systems; (ii) the study of the monitoring possibility and search of the ways for the risk level decrease. Discussion of the physical and chemical processes accompanying the observable geophysical p- nomena was undertaken. One can see from a list of the Conference sections that questions of safety took only rather modest place, so main topics of the Conference became discussion of processes taking place in the atmosphere, ionosphere and methods of monitoring these processes.