Threshold of parametric instability in the ionospheric heating experiments

Many observations in the ionospheric heating experiment, by a powerful high frequency electromagnetic wave with ordinary polarization launched from a ground-based facility, is attributed to parametric instability （PI）. In this paper, the general dispersion relation and the threshold of the PI excitation in the heating experiment are derived by considering the inhomogeneous spatial distribution of pump wave field. It is shown that the threshold of PI is influenced by the effective electron and ion collision frequencies and the pump wave frequency. Both collision and Landau damping should be considered in the PI calculation. The derived threshold expression has been used to calculate the required threshold for excitation of PI for several ionospheric conditions during heating experiments conducted employing EISCAT high frequency transmitter in TromsФ, Norway, on 2nd October 1998, 8th November 2001, 19th October 2012 and 7th July 2014. The results indicate that the calculated threshold is in good agreement with the experimental observations.

Stimulated electromagnetic emissions spectrum observed during an X-mode heating experiment at the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association

An extraordinary(X-mode)electromagnetic wave,injected into the ionosphere by the ground-based heating facility at Tromsφ,Norway,was utilized to modify the ionosphere on November 6,2017.The high-power high-frequency transmitter facility located at Tromsφ belongs to the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association.In the experiment,stimulated electromagnetic emission(SEE)spectra were observed.A narrow continuum occurred under cold-start conditions and showed an overshoot effect lasting several seconds.Cascading peaks occurred on both sides of the heating frequency only in the preconditioned ionosphere and also showed an overshoot effect.These SEE features are probably related to the ponderomotive process in the X-mode heating experiment and are helpful for understanding the physical mechanism that generated them during the X-mode heating experiment.The features observed in the X-mode heating experiments are novel and require further investigation.

Determine the physical mechanism and source region of beat wave modulation by changing the frequency of high-frequency waves

This paper introduces a new approach for the determination of the source region of beat wave(BW)modulation.This type of modulation is achieved by transmitting high-frequency(HF)continuous waves with a frequency difference f,where f is the frequency of modulated ELF/VLF(extremely low frequency/very low frequency)waves from two sub-arrays of a high power HF transmitter.Despite the advantages of BW modulation in terms of generating more stable ELF/VLF signal and high modulation efficiency,there exists a controversy on the physical mechanism of BW and its source region.In this paper,the two controversial theories,i.e.,BW based on D-E region thermal nonlinearity and BW based on F region ponderomotive nonlinearity are examined for cases where each of these two theories exists exclusively or both of them exist simultaneously.According to the analysis and simulation results presented in this paper,it is found that the generated VLF signal amplitude exhibits significant variation as a function of HF frequency in different source regions.Therefore,this characteristic can be utilized as a potential new approach to determine the physical mechanism and source location of BW.