Four successive thermite barium releases at an altidue of 965 km over polar cap invariant latitudes 84 ¿ to 76 ¿ near magnetic midnight were conducted from the orbiting second stage of the vehicle that launched Nimus 7. This was the first opportunity to observe the behavior of a conventional barium release when conducted at orbital velocity in the near earth magnetic field and to demonstrate that the &mgr;∇B force at orbital velocity would accelerate the Ba+ ions to much greater altitudes for measuring E∥ fields by observing perturbations in the motion of the visible ions. The principal unexpected characteristic in the release dynamics was the high, 1.4 to 2.6 km/s, initial Ba+ expansion velocity relative to an expected velocity of 0.9 km/s. Characteristics of the neutral gas expansion are also discussed. Under the combined influence of &mgr;∇B and E∥ forces the finely striated Ba+ streamers from the 8 kg releases elongated along the field to dimensions>10,000 km and were photographed from California and Hawaii as well as higher latitude sites. Although observed up to one hour after release and to elevation angles<55 ¿ from Southern California, triangulations of upper tips were limited to the initial 25 min and altitudes<23,000 km. The average E⊥ convection of the Ba+ flux tubes was very normal for Kp = 3 conditions and closely followed model patterns for convection between the pole and the midnight auroral zone. However, over shorter space-time dimensions the E⊥ field is observed to be irregular; this also is a normal polar cap condition. From the analysis of field aligned motions in terms of the potential changes required in the equation of motion to match the altitude versus time observations: (1) E∥ fields do not appear below 1400 km, (2) between 1500 and 4200 km the changes in energy are typically 20--40 eV with a 71 eV maximum, (3) between 4200 and 15,000 km maximum values are in the range 80--720 eV with the highest values coming from the highest latitude releases, and (4) in the case of one release a 6 keV acceleration appears above 15,800 km. These changes appear as both accelerating (upward E∥) and decelerating (downward E∥) fields with an apparent periodicity of 3 to 4 min and are in phase at all four locations for 3, and possibly 4 or 5, cycles within the limitations imposed by a 1 min resolution and data gaps. This apparent wave characteristic could, under selective error assumptions, result from several impulsive decelerations superimposed on a more general, but variable, accelerating field. This possibility is considered to be less likely than a hydromagnetic wave association. The unique capabilities for measuring very weak fields and for separating temporal and spatial variations may explain the lack of precedent from previous E∥ measurements.