University of Leicester
Browse

EISCAT Svalbard radar observations of SPEAR-induced E- and F-region spectral enhancements in the polar cap ionosphere

Download (1.2 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2010-06-28, 15:48 authored by R. S. Dhillon, T. R. Robinson, Tim K. Yeoman
The Space Plasma Exploration by Active Radar (SPEAR) facility has successfully operated in the high-power heater and low-power radar modes and has returned its first results. The high-power results include observations of SPEAR-induced ion and plasma line spectral enhancements recorded by the EISCAT Svalbard UHF incoherent scatter radar system (ESR), which is collocated with SPEAR. These SPEAR-enhanced spectra possess features that are consistent with excitation of both the purely growing mode and the parametric decay instability. In this paper, we present observations of upper and lower E-region SPEAR-induced ion and plasma line enhancements, together with F-region spectral enhancements, which indicate excitation of both instabilities and which are consistent with previous theoretical treatments of instability excitation in sporadic E-layers. In agreement with previous observations, spectra from the lower E-region have the single-peaked form characteristic of collisional plasma. Our observations of the SPEAR-enhanced E-region spectra suggest the presence of variable drifting regions of patchy overdense plasma, which is a finding also consistent with previous results.

History

Citation

Annales Geophysicae, 2007, 25 (8), pp. 1801-1814.

Published in

Annales Geophysicae

Publisher

Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union (EGU)

issn

0992-7689

Copyright date

2007

Available date

2010-06-28

Publisher version

http://www.ann-geophys.net/25/1801/2007/

Language

en

Usage metrics

    University of Leicester Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Keywords

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC