Induced Enhancement of the Plasma Line in the Backscatter Spectrum by Ionospheric Heating

Abstract

Recent results from ionospheric modification experiments at the Acrecibo Ionospheric Observatory show an enhanced plasma line temperature of approximately 4000K due to excitation of the ion-acoustic parametric instability. Recent theories on the saturation spectrum of the plasma waves excited in this experiment predict that the bulk of the wave energy is associated with waves propagating in a very narrow angular cone centered on the geomagnetic field. The intensity of the plasma waves responsible for the scattering, propagating parallel to the probing radar beam i.e. at 40 to the geomagnetic field, is orders of magnitude weaker than the intensity of the parallel propagating plasma waves. It is shown here that it is still sufficient to account for the experimental results.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1972
Accession Number
AD0752060

Entities

People

  • Kenneth J. Harker

Organizations

  • Stanford University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Backscattering
  • Bandwidth
  • Electromagnetic Radiation
  • Electromagnetic Scattering
  • Electrons
  • Frequency
  • Instability
  • Intensity
  • Military Research
  • Parametric Instability
  • Plasma Waves
  • Radar Beams
  • Radiation
  • Radio Waves
  • Scattering
  • Spectra
  • Wave Power

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.