Probing of medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances using HF-induced scatter targets

• Main Authors: Blagoveshchenskaya, N. F., Rietveld, Michael T., Borisova, T. D., Kornienko, V. A., Moskvin, I. V., Frolov, V. L., Uryadov, V. P., Kagan, L. M., Yampolski, Yu. M., Galushko, V. L., Koloskov, A. V., Kasheev, S. B., Zalizovski, A. V., Vertogradov, G. G., Vertogradov, V. G., Kelley, M. C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: European Geosciences Union (EGU) 2006
• Subjects: VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Physics: 430::Space and plasma physics: 437; Ionosphere (Ionosphere: Active experiments; Ionospheric disturbances); Radio Science (Nonlinear phenomena); VDP::Matematikk og naturvitenskap: 400::Fysikk: 430::Rom- og plasmafysikk: 437; Tromsø
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10037/2418

Experimental results from the Tromsø and Sura heating experiments at high and mid-latitudes are examined. It is shown that the combination of HF-induced target and bi-static HF Doppler radio scatter observations is a profitable method for probing medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) at high and mid-latitudes. HF ionospheric modification experiments provide a way of producing the HF-induced scatter target in a controlled manner at altitudes where the sensitivity to TIDs is highest. Bi-static HF Doppler radio scatter observations were carried out on the London– Tromsø–St. Petersburg path in the course of a Tromsø heating experiment on 16 November 2004 when the pump wave was reflected from an auroral Es-layer. During Sura heating experiments on 19 and 20 August 2004, when the HF pump wave was reflected from the F2 ionospheric layer, multiposition bi-static HF Doppler radio scatter observations were simultaneously performed at three reception points including St. Petersburg, Kharkov, and Rostov-on-Don. Ray tracing and Doppler shift simulations were made for all experiments. A computational technique has been developed allowing the reconstruction of the TID phase velocities from multi-position bi-static HF Doppler scatters. Parameters of medium-scale TIDs were found. In all experiments they were observed in the evening and pre-midnight hours. TIDs in the auroral E-region with periods of about 23 min were traveling southward at speeds of 210 m/s. TIDs in the mid-latitudinal F-region with periods from 20 to 45 min travelled at speeds between 40 and 150 m/s. During quiet magnetic conditions the waves were traveling in the north-east direction. In disturbed conditions the waves were moving in the south-west direction with higher speeds as compared with quiet conditions. Possible sources for the atmospheric gravity waves at middle and high latitudes are discussed.