Measuring ionospheric movements using totally reflected radio waves

It is shown that for radio waves of a particular frequency reflected totally from the ionosphere the effect of refraction as well as reflection can be simulated by an effective reflecting surface. This mirrorlike surface will give the correct angle of arrival and Doppler shift for all radars operating at this frequency. It is theoretically possible for the effective reflecting surface to be folded back on itself, but this is unlikely except for F-region echoes refracted by sporadic E-clouds. If the surface is not folded and exists everywhere, it is always possible to describe its motion and change in terms of wave undulations. Experimental data for F-region echoes show that these wave undulations are very dispersive. However, the matching between the best fitting model and the experimental data is worse than expected for reasons we do not understand.     

On Pfister's theorem and its generalization

The relation between angle of arrival and Doppler shift that has been called Pfister's theorem is shown to be a special case of a result that applies to ionospherically transmitted signals between fixed ground sites, whenever the ionosphere moves without change of shape. This general result does not require the existence of an effective mirror reflector or any special symmetry of the ionosphere, but depends only on the validity of ray theory. The formula obtained by Pfister [(1971) J. atmos. terr. Phys.33, 999] is shown to apply, provided the ray returning from the ionosphere follows the same path as the incident ray.     

Place, networks, space: theorising the geographies of social movements

This essay examines how geography affects the different types of networks underlying social movements. The principal argument of the paper is that networks forged in particular places and at great distances play distinctive yet complementary functions in broad-based social movements. Not only does the articulation of these different types of networks result in complementary roles, but it also introduces key relational dynamics affecting the stability of the entire social movement. The purpose of the paper is therefore threefold: to provide a conceptual framework for interpreting the complex geographies of contemporary social movement networks, to stress the contributions of place-based relations in social movements and to assess how activist places connect to form 'social movement space'.     

Solitons and ionospheric modification

The possibility of Langmuir soliton formation and collapse during ionospheric modification is investigated. Parameters characterizing former facilities, existing facilities, and planned facilities are considered, using a combination of analytical and numerical techniques. At a spatial location corresponding to the exact classical reflection point of the modifier wave, the Langmuir wave evolution is found to be dominated by modulational instability followed by soliton formation and three-dimensional collapse. The earth's magnetic field is found to affect the shape of the collapsing soliton. These results provide an alternative explanation for some recent observations.     

The theory of ionospheric focused heating

Ionospheric modification by high power radio waves and by chemical releases are combined in a theoretical study of ionospheric focused heating. The release of materials which promote electron-ion recombination creates a hole in the bottomside ionosphere. The ionospheric hole focuses high power radio waves from a ground-based transmitter to give a 20 dB or greater enhancement in power density. The intense radio beam excites atomic oxygen by collisions with accelerated electrons. Airglow from the excited oxygen provides a visible trace of the focused beam. The large increase in the intensity of the radio beam stimulates new wave-plasma interactions. Numerical simulations show that the threshold for the two-plasmon decay instability is exceeded. The interaction of the pump electromagnetic wave with the backward plasmon produces a scattered electromagnetic wave at 3/2 the pump frequency. The scattered wave provides a unique signature of the two-plasmon decay process for ground-based detection.     

Modeling equatorial ionospheric electric fields

This paper gives a brief overview of the processes responsible for the equatorial electric field, and reviews relevant modeling work of these processes, with emphases on basic aspects and recent progress. Modeling studies have been able to explain most of the observed features of equatorial electric fields, although some uncertainties remain. The strong anisotropy of the conductivity and the presence of an east-west electric field lead to a strong vertical polarization electric field in the lower ionosphere at the magnetic equator, whose magnitude can be limited by plasma irregularities. Local winds influence the structure of the equatorial polarization field in both the E and F regions. The evening pre-reversal enhancement of the eastward electric field has been modeled by considering a combination of effects due to the presence of a strong eastward wind in the F region and to east-west gradients of the conductivity, current, and wind. Models of coupled thermosphere-ionosphere dynamics and electrodynamics have demonstrated the importance of mutual-coupling effects. The low-latitude east-west electric field arises mainly from the global ionospheric wind dynamo and from the magnetospheric dynamo, but models of these dynamos and of their coupling have not yet attained accurate predictive capability.     

The variability of ionospheric dynamo currents

The method of Hibberd is used to study the variability of ionospheric dynamo currents from day to day, with solar rotation and with the solar cycle. The method eliminates many sources of disturbance by using the difference of H at two magnetic observatories having the same longitude but different latitudes. In this way, a measure of the strength of the ionospheric currents can be obtained almost every day, even during magnetically disturbed periods. It is concluded that the currents are produced partly by tidal modes driven by in situ heating in the thermosphere, and that variations in the amplitude of these modes are mainly responsible for the solar rotation and the solar cycle effects which are observed. There are also random day-to-day changes, uncorrelated from one day to the next, and these suggest that upward propagating tidal modes are also important in driving the currents.     

Observations of high latitude ionospheric conductances

A brief historical review of the development of models of the ionospheric conductivities with special emphasis on high latitude regions and the auroral zone is presented. It is with great admiration that we must conclude that the physical understanding of the importance of the ionospheric conductances was well perceived by pioneers like Schuster and Birkeland a hundred years ago. Progress in the basic theoretical fundamentals was achieved in the late 1920s and 1930s. Realistic estimates were not derived until the first rocket probes measured the electron and ion content at different altitudes in the 1950s.Today we have a superior technique in resolving electron density profiles of high time and height resolution by incoherent scatter radars on the ground. The challenge that we are facing is to obtain global conductivity maps, especially at high latitudes, with a time and spatial resolution which match the details in auroral substorm phenomena. If that can be achieved, great progress in the understanding of detailed dynamical coupling in the ionosphere, magnetosphere, and thermosphere systems is expected. The imaging technique as demonstrated by the DE-satellite can be the tool which eventually materializes our desires for increased knowledge.     

Experimental daytime VLF ionospheric parameters

Measured field strengths from VLF transmitters are used to determine improved daytime values of ionospheric parameters to enable improved VLF propagation predictions. These parameters are the traditional H′ (height in km) and β (sharpness in km⁻¹) as used by Wait and by NOSC in their Earthionosphere waveguide computer program. They are found by comparing the predictions of the NOSC program with the observed VLF field strengths over both long and short paths.Experimental observations from two nearly north-south paths are used to determine the solar zenith angle dependence of both H′ and β for low latitude (or summer mid-latitude) conditions. These results are then used to predict the daytime variations in VLF field strengths with solar zenith angle (and hence time) on other suitable paths and good agreement is found with measurements made on these paths.The absolute value of β for overhead Sun is found to be 0.45 km⁻¹ and is principally determined by the attenuation on the very long, west to east, fully sunlit, 14.4 Mm path from NWC (Australia, 22°S) to San Francisco (37°N), after applying small corrections for the solar zenith angle variations along the path at midday. Further support is obtained from results from the 8.6 Mm path NDT (Japan) to San Francisco, an 8.2 Mm path NPM (Hawaii) to New Zealand, and an east to west 7.5 Mm path from NPM to Townsville, Australia. The conditions studied are solar maximum. The frequencies studied are 15–30 kHz.     

Observations of a day-time mid-latitude ionospheric trough

A summer, dayside, mid-latitude trough detected by a digital ionosonde located at Halley (76°S, 27°W, L = 4.2) is described. The trough is found to be present in the F2-region only and its movements are found to conform to known trough dynamics. The F1-layer shows a greater degree of development within the trough; slant type sporadic E reflections are present underneath the trough minimum. Satellite data from the northern hemisphere show a conjugate trough, with rapid ion flow occurring within it. Possible formation processes for the trough are examined. It is unlikely that depleted nightside plasma could have contributed to the trough. The trough is formed by the effect of enhanced F2 recombination rates combined with a differing solar production term for the plasma associated with the trough minimum and equatorial edge.     

Riometer measurements of ionospheric radio wave absorption

Absorption was calculated at two height levels in the ionosphere, from different electron density profiles. The correlation between absorption and foF2 was studied. This study bears out theoretical results that riometer absorption occurs mainly in the D-layer and less in the upper parts of the ionosphere.     

VHF propagation modes within ionospheric waveguides

A three dimensional waveguide model of VHF ducting has been developed. The waveguide is aligned along the Earth's magnetic field and has an elliptical cross-section which, based on observations of ionospheric bubble irregularities, is taken to have axes of 10–100 km. Rays propagating to the conjugate hemisphere via the duct undergo relatively few reflections at the duct walls (typically 3–20). Consequently the waveguides are not fully excited and significant power is transmitted by modes which are not fully trapped. A complete analysis of the propagation characteristics of such ducts requires the consideration of trapped and leaky modes, focusing and tunnelling. The cross-section of the guide is defined by specifying the vertical and East-West horizontal axes at the apex of the guide (magnetic equator). Comparison of cases with the same vertical axis shows that, when the vertical axis is larger than the East-West axis, the curvature on the upper surface of the guide is consequently increased and tunnelling becomes more important. On the other hand, when the vertical axis is the smaller, focusing is greater and leaky rays become increasingly important. In some models the region of highest power in the conjugate hemisphere is due almost entirely to rays which have suffered some leakage. Obviously non-trapped modes need to be considered when attempting to explain phenomena such as trans-equatorial propagation at VHF.     

The ionospheric Alfv/'en resonator

The ionospheric Alfvén resonator (IAR) associated with peculiarities of the plasma distribution in the F-region ionosphere affects significantly the spectral form of electromagnetic noise registered on the Earth's surface and by satellites. The eigenfrequencies of the IAR are in the range from 0.1 to 10 Hz, and the Q-factor is ~ 10. This is proved experimentally by the spectral resonance structure (SRS), excited by lightning, which manifests itself as pronounced minima and maxima in the averaged spectral intensity of atmospheric background noise of a few hertz. A theory for the SRS is constructed which explains the main experimental facts. New ground-based diagnostics of the electron density profile above the F-layer maximum derived from SRS data are discussed.     

The latitudinal variation oi ionospheric absorption

The anomalous latitudinal variation, sometimes referred to as the equatorial anomaly, in ionospheric absorption observed by several investigators in the past is examined. For low dip angles (I ≤ 20°), the observed increases in absorption with increasing dip angles are due to the increasing contribution to the total absorption from the ionospheric region where the quasi-tranverse conditions hold. For dip angles greater than ∼- 20°, the major contribution to the total absorption comes from the ionospheric region satisfying the quasi-longitudinal conditions resulting in a decrease of absorption with increasing dip angles.     

Internal structure of the equatorial ionospheric dynamo

Using the Sq current profiles measured with rocket born magnetometer, off the coast of Peru, by Daviset al. (J. geophys. Res. 72, 1845) comparison is made between measured and calculated profiles near noon on geomagnetic dip equator, and a mismatch is pointed out in the height pattern of Sq current. Theory is worked out to determine the eastward electric field (E_y) with which computed j_y (eastward current density) coincides with the observed one. It is found that the neutral wind plays very important rôle in keeping E_y height-independent. E_y is found to be about 0.6 mVm⁻¹, ranging from 0.5 to 0.7 mVm⁻¹ in some cases. Flow of meridional current is obtained and its effect on jet current construction is discussed.     

A preliminary experimental test of ionospheric tomography

A preliminary experiment to test the application of computerized tomography (CT) to ionospheric imaging is described. Co-ordinated observations are presented in which radio transmissions from NNSS satellites were used to measure the total electron content required for the tomographic image of electron density. Simultaneous measurements of electron density by the EISCAT ionospheric radar facility were made for comparison. The results show that a large-scale ionospheric electron density gradient reconstructed by the tomographic technique is also seen in the EISCAT observations.     

Some aspects of mid-latitude daytime ionospheric disturbances

This paper is concerned with the ionospheric irregularities produced during daylight hours in mid-latitude regions by medium-scale travelling ionospheric disturbances (MS-TIDs) as these disturbances pass overhead at a recording station. These irregularities are detected as ionogram trace distortions as well as by spread-F conditions particularly related to the second-hop reflections of HF radio waves. The existence of a significant amount of spread on second-hop ionogram traces during the passage of two particular MS-TIDs is illustrated and discussed. Experimental evidence is presented to suggest that, similar to the results for night-time spread-F, the occurrence of these daytime events is inversely related to variations in the neutral-particle density of the upper atmosphere, for the annual and sunspot-cycle variations. However, the results do not show a similar inverse relationship for the diurnal variation.