Convective amplification of type I irregularities in the equatorial electrojet
Wave propagation and refraction of type I- irregularities in the equatorial electrojet are investigated. Quantitative calculation of wave refraction in a model electrojet shows that the direction of wave refraction must change sign at one altitude. Waves propagating with the electrons rotate their wave vectors upward in the upper electrojet and downward in the lower electrojet during the day, and vice versa at night. Furthermore, the altitude region of largest linear growth rate is also the one with the weakest refraction rate. Consequently. computations of the ray-path integrated wave growth show that this region would dominate the backscatter spectrum from the electrojet if linear theory were valid, and it is further noted that the maximum amplitude wave should have phase velocities exceeding the ion acoustic speed. We therefore conclude that propagation alone, without inclusion of nonlinear effects, cannot explain backscatter observations of a constant Doppler frequency shift given by the ion acoustic speed. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Department of Physics and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90024
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- NSA Number:
- NSA-29-013685
- OSTI ID:
- 4371332
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 78; ISSN 0148-0227
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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