Premium
Long wavelength irregularities in the equatorial electrojet
Author(s) -
Kudeki Erhan,
Farley Donald T.,
Fejer Bela G.
Publication year - 1982
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 - 10.1029/gl009i006p00684
Subject(s) - equatorial electrojet , electrojet , wavelength , instability , physics , amplitude , interferometry , geophysics , rocket (weapon) , phase velocity , radar , geology , geodesy , computational physics , optics , mechanics , magnetic field , aerospace engineering , earth's magnetic field , quantum mechanics , engineering
We have used the radar interferometer technique at Jicamarca to study in detail irregularities with wavelengths of a few kilometers generated in the unstable equatorial electrojet plasma during strong type 1 conditions. In‐situ rocket observations of the same instability process are discussed in a companion paper. These large scale primary waves travel essentially horizontally and have large amplitudes. The vertical electron drift velocities driven by the horizontal wave electric fields reach or exceed the ion‐acoustic velocity even though the horizontal phase velocity of the wave is considerably smaller. A straightforward extension to the long wavelength regime of the usual linear theory of the electrojet instability explains this and several other observed features of these dominant primary waves.