The Extending of Observing Altitudes of Plasma and Ion Lines During Ionospheric Heating

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
• Main Authors: Wu, Jun, Wu, Jian, Rietveld, Michael T, Häggström, I., Xu, Zhengwen, Zhao, Haisheng
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2018
• Subjects: VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Physics: 430::Space and plasma physics: 437; VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Fysikk: 430::Rom- og plasmafysikk: 437; Ionospheric heating; Ion line; Plasma line; Altitude extending; Bragg condition; Langmuir; Tromsø
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10037/14775; https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JA024809

Source at https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JA024809. The ultrahigh-frequency observation during an ionospheric heating experiment on 11 March 2014 at the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association Tromsø site illustrated a remarkable extension of observing altitudes of the enhanced plasma line and the ion line, implying that the enhanced ion acoustic wave and Langmuir wave should satisfy the Bragg condition within the extending altitude range. An analysis shows that the dependence of the wave number of the traveling ion acoustic wave on the profiles of enhanced electron temperature and ion mass, as are expected from the dispersion relation of the ion acoustic wave, leads to the extension of observing altitudes of the enhanced ion line. In addition, the altitude extension of the enhanced plasma line is dependent mainly on the profile of the electron density, although it is not independent of the profile of the electron temperature. Considering a small gradient profile of electron density, however, the enhanced electron temperature, as well as the thermal conduction along the magnetic field, may lead to the altitude extension of the enhanced plasma line.