Comparison between Irregularity Motion and Bulk Plasma Drifts at High Latitudes

• Main Authors: Livingston, Robert C., McCready, Mary C.
• Other Authors: SRI INTERNATIONAL MENLO PARK CA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1991
• Subjects: Atmospheric Physics; Active & Passive Radar Detection & Equipment; Radiofrequency Wave Propagation; *IONOSPHERE; *IONOSPHERIC SCINTILLATION; *SCINTILLATION; VELOCITY; PROPAGATION; SCATTERING; GREENLAND; POLAR CAP; ALASKA; ELECTRIC FIELDS; RADAR; INCOHERENT SCATTERING; SPACED RECEIVER; IRREGULARITY MOTION; INCOHERENT SCATTER RADAR; BULK PLASMA DRIFT; IONOSPHERIC MOTION; PLASMA FLOW; SBI1; FISCAL YEAR 1992; PE62101F; WUPL464308AQ; Greenland; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA256671; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA256671

Coincident measurements of ionospheric motion, derived from two different techniques, are compared. The first technique is coherent-scatter radar measurement of bulk plasma drift; if the plasma flow is uniform within its field of view, the radar provides precise measurements of motion resolved from multiple line-of-sight velocity samples. The second technique is spaced-receiver measurement of kilometer-scale irregularity motion; the velocity is extracted from the diffraction pattern produced by integrated propagation effects along the radio raypath. Detailed comparisons of coincident measurements are made for five experiments in Alaska and Greenland, under a variety of background conditions. When the ionospheric drifts are uniform, the agreement between the two techniques is good. When this is not the case, as is typical near the polar cap boundary, the superior time and spatial resolution of the scintillation technique reveals small-scale flow patterns which are difficult to derive from the radar data.