Analysis of electromagnetic field variability in magnetized ionosphere plasma using the stochastic FDTD method

A stochastic finite-difference time-domain (S-FDTD) algorithm is presented for electromagnetic wave propagation in anisotropic magnetized plasma. This new algorithm efficiently calculates in a single simulation not only the mean electromagnetic field values, but also their variance as caused by the variability or uncertainty of the content of the ionosphere. By accounting for fully three-dimensional, high resolution (even cmscale) structures and uncertainty in the ionosphere, this algorithm represents a paradigm shift in our ability to analyze realistic, complex wave propagation in the ionosphere.