Cavitating Langmuir Turbulence Observed during High-Latitude Ionospheric Wave Interaction Experiments

B. Isham; C. La Hoz; M. T. Rietveld; T. Hagfors; T. B. Leyser

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.2576

Cavitating Langmuir Turbulence Observed during High-Latitude Ionospheric Wave Interaction Experiments

B. Isham, C. La Hoz, M. T. Rietveld, T. Hagfors, and T. B. Leyser

Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2576 – Published 27 September 1999

Abstract

Incoherent scatter radar data obtained during high power radio wave ionospheric interaction experiments performed in northern Scandinavia show an induced spectral line at the O-mode pump frequency simultaneous with strong enhancements at the natural Langmuir resonance frequency, both just below the reflection height. These characteristics provide an unmistakable signature of cavitating (a.k.a. strong) Langmuir turbulence, and show that this turbulence occurs not only in midlatitude but also during high latitude ionospheric interaction experiments. Cavitating turbulence is thus not dependent on specific geophysical conditions but is due to fundamental wave-plasma interaction processes in the ionospheric plasma.

Received 30 March 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.2576

Authors & Affiliations

B. Isham^1,*, C. La Hoz², M. T. Rietveld^3,4, T. Hagfors⁴, and T. B. Leyser⁵

¹Interamerican University, Bayamón, Puerto Rico
²Auroral Observatory, Tromsø, Norway
³EISCAT Scientific Association, Ramfjordbotn, Norway
⁴Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
⁵Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden

^*Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Interamerican University, Route 830, Number 500, Bayamón, Puerto Rico 00957.Email address: isham@naic.edu and bisham@bc.inter.eduFormerly at Arecibo Observatory, Arecibo, Puerto Rico