First EISCAT measurement of electron-gas temperature in the artificially heated D-region ionosphere
The ionospheric electron gas can be heated artificially by a powerful radio wave. According to our modeling, the maximum effect of this heating occurs in the D-region where the electron temperature can increase by a factor of ten. Ionospheric plasma parameters such as N e , T e and T i are measured...
Published in: | Annales Geophysicae |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2000
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-000-1210-8 https://doaj.org/article/ac683f87666f4cbc97d1f02493b09529 |
Summary: | The ionospheric electron gas can be heated artificially by a powerful radio wave. According to our modeling, the maximum effect of this heating occurs in the D-region where the electron temperature can increase by a factor of ten. Ionospheric plasma parameters such as N e , T e and T i are measured by EISCAT incoherent scatter radar on a routine basis. However, in the D-region the incoherent scatter echo is very weak because of the low electron density. Moreover, the incoherent scatter spectrum from the D-region is of Lorentzian shape which gives less information than the spectrum from the E- and F-regions. These make EISCAT measurements in the D-region difficult. A combined EISCAT VHF-radar and heating experiment was carried out in November 1998 with the aim to measure the electron temperature increase due to heating. In the experiment the heater was switched on/off at 5 minute intervals and the integration time of the radar was chosen synchronously with the heating cycle. A systematic difference in the measured autocorrelation functions was found between heated and unheated periods. Key words: Ionosphere (active experiments; plasma temperature and density; wave propagation) |
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