Plasma instabilities in auroral ionospheric density gradients from 120-200 km altitude

Physics

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6929 Ionospheric Physics (2409), 2159 Plasma Waves And Turbulence, 2407 Auroral Ionosphere (2704)

Scientific paper

Recent observations by the Sonderstrom incoherent scatter radar show narrow field aligned filaments of enhanced plasma density extending from ~100 to 400 km in altitude, with widths of order 1 km transverse to B, and with peak density of ~5e11/m3. These features typically appear at the footprint of nightside reconnection where strong, sheared, ionospheric flows exist. We examine the stability of such structures when immersed within plasma convection using a 2-D (plane perpendicular to the magnetic field) hybrid plasma simulation. Initial results indicated the relatively rapid development (order seconds) of gradient drift type instability waves; for parameters near 200 km altitude, and convection velocity of 600 m/s, such plasma columns are found to be unstable to waves with a wavelength of ~10 to 20 m. These results have implications for the interpretation of HF backscatter measurements in such ionospheric regions.

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