Multi-frequency HF radar measurements of artificial F-region field-aligned irregularities

A. Senior (1) , N. D. Borisov (2) , M. J. Kosch (1) , T. K. Yeoman (3) , F. Honary (1) , M. T. Rietveld (4)

1 Dept. of Communication Systems
2 IZMIRAN - Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation
3 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Leicester]
4 EISCAT Scientific Association

We present radar backscatter power measurements using the CUTLASS HF radar at Hankasalmi, Finland from F-region field-aligned irregularities induced by HF radio pumping with the EISCAT Heating facility. A novel radar operating mode is used in which the radar frequency is rapidly swept through a number of bands, making use of the varying ionospheric refraction to probe different heights within the heated region. We obtain height profiles of backscatter power which correspond to e-folding scale lengths of around 20km for the mean-square electron density perturbations for pump wave interaction heights in the region of 240-250km in daytime conditions. The results are in agreement with previous measurements made by other techniques. We discuss some problems with the method and suggest improvements for future experiments.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de la Terre

A. Senior, N. D. Borisov, M. J. Kosch, T. K. Yeoman, F. Honary, et al.. Multi-frequency HF radar measurements of artificial F-region field-aligned irregularities. Annales Geophysicae, 2004, 22 (10), pp.3503-3511. ⟨hal-00317682⟩