On The Ion Drift Contribution To The Phase Velocity of Electrojet Irregularities
Abstract
The ion drift effect is often ignored in the interpretation of VHF Doppler measure- ments. For example, in the STARE experiment it is assumed that the line-of-sight velocity measured at large flow angles is simply a cosine component of the true elec- tron drift. Previous studies seem to support this assumption, though only to a certain degree.
In this study we consider a 3.5-hour morning event of joint STARE-EISCAT observa- tions for which the STARE-Finland radar velocity was mainly larger than the EISCAT convection component. A moderate 5-20 deg offset between the EISCAT convection azimuth and its STARE estimate was also observed. We show that both the STARE- Finland radar velocity "over-speed" and the azimuthal offset between the EISCAT and STARE convection vectors can be explained by fluid plasma theory arguments if the ion drift contribution to the irregularity phase velocity under the condition of moder- ate backscatter off-orthogonality is taken into account. The ion effects were enhanced because of a lifting up of the entire E-region seen by the EISCAT. It perhaps resulted in an increase of the STARE echo heights and aspect angles. The latter are of the order of 1 deg at the top of the electrojet layer. We also compare STARE convection magni- tudes and true velocities measured by the EISCAT to study the potential impact of the ion motions on the STARE velocity estimates.- Publication:
-
EGS General Assembly Conference Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002EGSGA..27.2882U