The nature of electron density enhancement over a wide altitude range during ionosphere heating experiments at EISCAT

During the course of ionospheric heating experiments, researchers at the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) observed an apparent electron density enhancement. The enhancement extended over a wide range of altitudes, above the reflection altitude of the high-frequency pump wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Earth and Planetary Physics
Main Authors: Jun Wu, Jian Wu, Jie Feng, QingLiang Li, ShuJi Hao, ZhengWen Xu, HaiSheng Zhao, YaBin Zhang
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Science Press 2024
Subjects:
incoherent scatter radar (isr)
ionospheric heating
electron density
ion acoustic wave
Science
Q
Geophysics. Cosmic physics
QC801-809
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
EISCAT
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.26464/epp2024005
https://doaj.org/article/4ed5d000fb3c42788a01f8e02a1b2f05
Description
Summary:During the course of ionospheric heating experiments, researchers at the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) observed an apparent electron density enhancement. The enhancement extended over a wide range of altitudes, above the reflection altitude of the high-frequency pump wave. However, whether this enhancement actually corresponds to a true enhancement in electron density remains an open question. When the dispersion relation of ion acoustic waves is followed, the frequency ratio of the enhanced ion line to the background ion line suggests that the profile of the effective ion mass may have remained unchanged. Furthermore, the solar radio flux and ion drift velocity indicate no significant changes in the ion species and their densities. In conclusion, the electron density enhancement observed at EISCAT should not, in fact, be considered a true enhancement.

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