SEDIMENTATION OF BARIUM IONS FROM THE CRRES G-9 RELEASE

The CRRES G-9 barium release was designed for the investigation of the field line tracing between the release point at 17.4 degrees N latitu de and the area of ion cloud sedimentation at about -41 degrees S lati tude. Very recently published images of the ion cloud after the releas e showed the development of at least two weak filaments between the re lease point and the main ion cloud [Zaitsev et al., 1996]. Observation s made from an aircraft in the south Atlantic region verify that at le ast one of these filaments survived the transequatorial transit and wa s still separated from the main barium cloud during sedimentation.