Handbook of Geophysics and the Space Environment

4th Ed. US Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, Hanscom, Massachusetts, 1985, AFGL-TR-85-00315, 1023 pp.The space, atmospheric, and terrestrial environments influence the functioning of all Air Force systems.. As technology advances, the role of the enviroment becomes more important to system performance. In many cases, the environment determines the limit in technical capability. This Handbook reflects the world of geophysics as honed and shaped by the special needs of the Air Force.Today's operational systems were designed with the environmental knowledge made available by the Air Force Geophysics, Laboratory and its predecessor, the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories. Tomorrow's Air Force depends on the quality and breadth of today's research as reflected in this Handbook. Although written primarily by Air Force Geophysics Laboratory scientists, this work reflects the state-of-knowledge of thousands of collaborative investigators, both -U.S. and foreign. It is a mixture of basic research and exploratory development, and as such, represents the entire range of our technology based efforts The very breadth of Air Force operations from space, through the atmosphere, to the earth makes it challenging, exciting, and rewarding to do front line research across this broad spectrum and to present a useable summary
of the results to a wide community via this publication. This Handbook is one of our deliverable end products.
The recognuition by the Air Force of the value of geophysics research to its mission is clearly illustrated in this work.
The advances made by in-house scientists, the unique world class facilities created to do this work, and the excellent support of space based experiments, all attest to the long term dedication required to advance our understanding of the environment.
Many significant players, military and civilian, have come and gone since the last issue of this Handbook. It is in the context of pride in these people and pride in in our
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