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Three‐Dimensional Analysis of the Cross‐Field Instability in the Ionosphere
Author(s) -
Sato Tetsuya,
Tsuda Takao
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1029/rs007i003p00429
Subject(s) - instability , ionosphere , physics , perturbation (astronomy) , magnetic field , plasma , latitude , field line , computational physics , geophysics , mechanics , astronomy , quantum mechanics
A three‐dimensional linear analysis is made of the cross‐field instability for a geometry in which the magnetic field lines make an arbitrary angle with the direction of density gradient. A general formula of the growth rate is obtained for a perturbation over whose scale the background quantities do not change appreciably. Applying the formula to the lower ionosphere, we find that the results of an earlier analysis [ Tsuda et al. , 1966] are recovered as a special case; that is, the present instability is a potential source of small‐scale irregularities in temperate latitude E region, as well as in the equatorial E region.