Physics
Scientific paper
May 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agusmsa23b..01p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #SA23B-01
Physics
2411 Electric Fields (2712), 2415 Equatorial Ionosphere, 2437 Ionospheric Dynamics, 2439 Ionospheric Irregularities, 2471 Plasma Waves And Instabilities
Scientific paper
In order to investigate the complex electrodynamics and neutral-plasma coupling inherent to the unstable nighttime E-region near the earth's magnetic equator, a series of rocket/radar experiments were conducted at Kwajalein Atoll (9.4 deg N, 167.5 deg E) near 5 degrees magnetic latitude in September, 2004, as part of the NASA EQUIS II Campaign. The rocket experiments consisted of two identical, instrumented payloads launched on separate nights with limited apogees so that the payloads "hovered" in the E region below 120 km. Each payload included vector DC and AC electric field detectors, a flux-gate DC magnetometer, a combined Langmuir probe/impedance probe to measure the absolute plasma density and its variations, multi-sensor ionization gauges to measure the neutral density and its variations, and spaced-electric field receivers to measure the wavelength and phase velocity of the unstable plasma waves. Separate rockets launched in conjunction with the instrumented rockets released TMA trails on the upleg and downleg between roughly 90-160 km that revealed the neutral wind and its velocity shear. These payloads also included a beacon experiment that provided an independent measure of the plasma density. In addition to the rocket experiments, coherent and incoherent scatter radar measurements at 160 MHz and 422 MHz were gathered with the fully steerable Altair radar and detected layers of backscatter echoes near 105 km that were both intense and sporadic in their appearance. The layers were narrow in their altitude extent, spatially modulated, and typically lasted for about 30 minutes. The payloads were launched into unstable layers on two nights, one prior to the pre-reversal enhancement (LT 20:00:45) and one near midnight (LT 23:43:53). The initial electric field and plasma density data reveal well-defined layers of waves between 95-105 km altitude with predominant wavelengths of 10's of meters and longer within regions that contained weak to moderate gradients in the plasma number density. The associated DC electric fields had relatively low amplitudes (~2-3 mV/m). We investigate whether the irregularities may result primarily from a variety of wind-driven instabilities, as compared to the traditional gradient-drift instability mechanism invoked to explain nighttime irregularities at the magnetic equator. An overview of the observations will be presented.
Acuña M.
Bishop Robert
Chau J. J.
Clemmons James
Freudenreich Henry
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