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Can HF heating generate ESF bubbles?
Author(s) -
Zawdie K. A.,
Huba J. D.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl062293
Subject(s) - ionosphere , plasma , earth's magnetic field , geophysics , electron density , perturbation (astronomy) , computational physics , electron , atmospheric sciences , physics , flux (metallurgy) , magnetic field , materials science , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
The injection of powerful HF waves into the ionosphere can lead to strong electron heating followed by a pressure perturbation which can locally reduce the plasma density. In the postsunset equatorial ionosphere, density perturbations can provide the seed to generate equatorial spread F (ESF) bubbles. In this paper, a modified version of the SAMI3/ESF ionosphere code is used to model the density depletions created by HF heating and to determine if ESF bubbles can be artificially generated. It is found that HF heating primarily redistributes plasma along the geomagnetic field and does not significantly perturb the flux tube integrated conductivities. Thus, HF heating does not appear to be a viable method to seed or generate ESF bubbles.