Effects of modification of the polar ionosphere with high-power short-wave extraordinary-mode HF waves produced by the spear heating facility

Effects of modification of the polar ionosphere with high-power short-wave extraordinary-mode HF waves produced by the spear heating facility

We present the results of modifying the F 2 layer of the polar ionosphere experimentally with highpower HF extraordinary-mode waves. The experiments were performed in October 2010 using the short-wave SPEAR heating facility (Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen). To diagnose the effects of high-power HF waves...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Radiophysics and quantum electronics Vol. 55; no. 1-2; pp. 126 - 141
Main Authors: Borisova, T. D., Blagoveshchenskaya, N. F., S.Kalishin, A., Oksavik, K., Baddelley, L., K.Yeoman, T.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Boston Springer US 01-06-2012
Springer
Subjects:
Analysis
Astronomy
Astrophysics and Astroparticles
Atmosphere, Upper
Hadrons
Heavy Ions
Ionosphere
Lasers
Mathematical and Computational Physics
Nuclear Physics
Observations and Techniques
Optical Devices
Optics
Photonics
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Quantum Optics
Radar meteorology
Radar systems
Theoretical
Ionospheric Irregularity
Polar Ionosphere
Critical Frequency
Heating Frequency
Ionospheric Plasma
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Summary:We present the results of modifying the F 2 layer of the polar ionosphere experimentally with highpower HF extraordinary-mode waves. The experiments were performed in October 2010 using the short-wave SPEAR heating facility (Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen). To diagnose the effects of high-power HF waves by the aspect-scattering method in a network of diagnostic paths, we used the short-wave Doppler radar CUTLASS (Hankasalmi, Finland) and the incoherent scatter radar ESR (Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen). Excitation of small-scale artificial ionospheric irregularities was revealed, which were responsible for the aspect and backward scattering of the diagnostic signals. The measurements performed by the ESR incoherent scatter radar simultaneously with the heating demonstrated changes in the parameters of the ionospheric plasma, specifically, an increase in the electron density by 10–25 % and an increase in the electron temperature by 10–30 % at the altitudes of the F 2 layer, as well as formation of sporadic ionization at altitudes of 140–180 km (below the F 2 layer maximum). To explain the effects of ionosphere heating with HF extraordinary-mode waves, we propose a hypothesis of transformation of extraordinary electromagnetic waves to ordinary in the anisotropic, smoothly nonuniform ionosphere.
ISSN:0033-8443
1573-9120
DOI:10.1007/s11141-012-9353-5