Title: Thermal modulation of the plasma density in ionospheric heating experiments
Abstract: Strong HF transmitters are able to excite a thermal modulational instability in the smoothly layered F-region of the ionosphere. In a linearized approximation, the instability grows explosively if the electric field Ep of the heater wave exceeds the threshold Ep⊥$̆10−4 V m−1(δNN0)−1 where δNN0 is the amplitude of some initial fractional density perturbation. A numerical simulation of the non-linear evolution of the instability shows that localized field-aligned density depletions develop which have a width L−T ≅1 m perpendicular to the magnetic field. The density depletions trap the Langmuir waves that are scattered from the heater wave and heat themselves self-consistently. A collapse is probably prevented by the influence of the thermal force on the electron diffusion across the magnetic field.
Publication Year: 1982
Publication Date: 1982-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 38
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