Three Dimensional Cloud Dynamics: Preliminary Application to a HANE (high Altitude Nuclear Explosions) Environment

Abstract : The Defense Nuclear Agency is sponsoring a broad-based research program on the dynamics and phenomenology of high altitude nuclear explosions (HANEs). An important goal of this research is to understand and model the late time nuclear environment; specifically, the intense field-aligned striations which are produced. These striations are regions of high electron density and are of military significance because they can adversely impact communication and surveillance systems. Of particular interest to DNA is the development of a model which characterizes the power spectral density of nuclear striations: the outer scale, the freezing scale, the inner scale, and the associated power law exponents between these scale sizes. This information provides a description of the late time nuclear environment which can be used in propagation codes relevant to military systems. This document describes 3D plasma cloud dynamics model of Drake et al. (1988) which is applied to barium clouds and to nuclear striations. Quantitative estimates of the critical scale size for marginal stability are presented. The implications of these results regarding the 'freezing' of plasma striations are discussed.