Distinctive Features of Langmuir and Ion‐Acoustic Turbulences Induced by O‐ and X‐Mode HF Pumping at EISCAT

We report experimental results regarding the distinctive features and behaviors of high‐frequency (HF)‐induced Langmuir and ion‐acoustic turbulences induced by ordinary (O‐mode) and extraordinary (X‐mode) polarized powerful HF radio waves injected into the high‐latitude ionosphere F region toward the magnetic zenith at EISCAT (European Incoherent SCATter). Alternating O‐/X‐mode pumping was produced at high heater frequencies in the range fH = 6–8 MHz during magnetically quiet background geophysical conditions. An effective radiated power of 450–600 MW was utilized. The radical distinction between the temporal evolution of the O‐ and X‐mode Langmuir and ion‐acoustic plasma waves after the HF heater is switched on in conjunction with the development of artificial field‐aligned irregularities (FAIs) was analyzed. It was found that the excitation thresholds of the Langmuir and ion‐acoustic turbulences significantly differed for the O‐ and X‐mode HF pumping. We have revealed that the X‐mode excitation thresholds for HF‐induced plasma and ion line backscatter are 0.47 and 0.61 V/m, respectively. The persistent O‐mode plasma and ion line backscatters that coexisted with FAIs showed excitation thresholds of 0.62 and 0.73 V/m, respectively, which exceeded the thresholds for the X‐mode plasma and ion lines, while their intensity was 2 orders of magnitude less. For the same background conditions, the “classic” resonance parametric decay instability and modulation instability, excited as the momentary response to the O‐mode HF pump wave switching on (the so‐called overshoot), have thresholds of 0.17 and 0.25 V/m, respectively, which are much below the excitation thresholds of persistent O‐mode plasma and ion lines.