Generation of coherent structures caused by ionospheric heating

Author

Bharuthram, Ramesh ; Shukla, Padma K. ; Stenflo, Lennart ; Nekrasov, Anatoly K. ; Pokhotelov, Oleg A.

Author_Institution

Inst. fuer Theor. Phys., Ruhr-Univ. Bochum, Germany

Volume

20

Issue

6

fYear

1992

fDate

12/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

803

Lastpage

809

Abstract

The thermal parametric instability excited by powerful high-frequency (HF) radio waves in the F region of the ionosphere is investigated. The HF radio waves, propagating through this inhomogeneous, magnetized plasma, are transformed into large-amplitude electrostatic plasma waves, which in turn couple to pseudo-three-dimensional nonlinear low-frequency density disturbances. This scenario is described by a system of equations consisting of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation for the HF plasma wave envelope, and the nonlinear equations for the electron density and temperature fluctuations, which are reinforced by the nonlinear terms associated with the pondermotive force and the differential Joule heating of the electrons. The formation of three-dimensional density striation structures is analyzed

Keywords

F-region; ionospheric electromagnetic wave propagation; plasma; plasma instability; plasma radiofrequency heating; plasma waves; radiowave propagation; F region; HF plasma wave envelope; coherent structures; differential Joule heating; electron density; ionospheric heating; large-amplitude electrostatic plasma waves; nonlinear Schrodinger equation; nonlinear equations; pondermotive force; pseudo-three-dimensional nonlinear low-frequency density disturbances; radio waves; temperature; thermal parametric instability; three-dimensional density striation structures; Couplings; Electrons; Electrostatics; Hafnium; Heating; Ionosphere; Nonlinear equations; Plasma density; Plasma temperature; Plasma waves;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/27.199531

Filename

199531