An official website of the United States government
Abstract Observations of 30‐MHz coherent backscatter from sporadic‐Eionization layers were obtained with a VHF imaging radar located in Ithaca, New York. The volume probed by the radar lies at relatively high magnetic latitudes, on the northern edge of the mid‐latitude region and underneath the ionospheric trough. Banded, quasi‐periodic (QP) echoes observed from Ithaca are similar to those found in lower midlatitude regions. The Doppler shifts observed are smaller and, so far, do not appear to reach the threshold for Farley‐Buneman instability. However, many of the echoes exhibit fine‐scale structure, with secondary bands or braids oriented obliquely to the primary bands. Secondary bands have been seen only rarely at lower middle latitudes. In previous observations, the QP scattering has been linked to unstable neutral wind shears. Neutral wind shear commonly found in the lower thermosphere could play a key role in the formation of these irregularities and explain some morphological features of the resulting plasma density irregularities and the radar echoes. We consider whether neutral instability and turbulence in the lower thermosphere is the likely cause for some of the structuring in the sporadic‐Elayers. Results of 3D numerical simulations of atmospheric dynamics in the mesosphere to lower thermosphere support the proposition. In particular, we focus on Ekman‐type instabilities that, like the more common Kelvin‐Helmholtz instabilities, are inflection point instabilities, although specifically associated with turning shears, and result in convective rolls aligned close to the mean wind direction, with smaller‐scale secondary waves aligned normal to the primary structures.
more »
« less
VHF Imaging Radar Observations and Theory of Banded Midlatitude Sporadic E Ionization Layers
Abstract Observations of backscatter from field‐aligned plasma density irregularities in sporadicE(Es) layers made with a 30‐MHz coherent scatter radar imager in Ithaca, New York are presented and analyzed. The volume probed by the radar lies at approximately 54° geomagnetic latitude, under the midlatitude trough and at the extreme northern edge of the zone whereEslayers are prevalent. Nonetheless, the irregularities exhibit many of the characteristics of quasiperiodic echoes observed commonly at lower middle latitudes. These include a tendency to occur in elongated bands stretching from the northwest to southeast in the Northern hemisphere separated by tens of kilometers and propagating to the southwest. In addition, the irregularities were found to exhibit finer‐scale structures with secondary bands oriented nearly normally to the primary bands. We investigate the proposition that the primary bands are telltale ofEs‐layer structuring caused by neutral Kelvin Helmholtz (KH) instability in the lower thermosphere and that the secondary bands signify secondary KH instability. Results from a 3D numerical simulation of KH support this proposition.
more »
« less
- PAR ID:
- 10367024
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
- Volume:
- 126
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 2169-9380
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Observations of coherent scatter from patchy sporadicElayers in the subauroral zone made with a 30‐MHz coherent scatter radar imager are presented. The quasiperiodic (QP) echoes are similar to what has been observed at middle latitudes but with some differences. The echoes arise from bands of scatterers aligned mainly northwest to southeast and propagating to the southwest. A notable difference from observations at middle latitudes is the appearance of secondary irregularities or braids oriented obliquely to the primary bands and propagating mainly northward along them. We present a spectral simulation of the patchy layers that describes neutral atmospheric dynamics with the incompressible Navier Stokes equations and plasma dynamics with an extended MHD model. The simulation is initialized with turning shears in the form of an Ekman spiral. Ekman‐type instability deforms the sporadicElayer through compressible and incompressible motion. The layer ultimately exhibits both the QP bands and the braids, consequences mainly of primary and secondary neutral dynamic instability. Vorticity due to dynamic instability is an important source of structuring in the sporadicElayer.more » « less
-
Abstract Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KH) waves have been broadly shown to affect the growth of hydrometeors within a region of falling precipitation, but formation and growth from KH waves at cloud top needs further attention. Here, we present detailed observations of cloud-top KH waves that produced a snow plume that extended to the surface. Airborne transects of cloud radar aligned with range height indicator scans from ground-based precipitation radar track the progression and intensity of the KH wave kinetics and precipitation. In situ cloud probes and surface disdrometer measurements are used to quantify the impact of the snow plume on the composition of an underlying supercooled liquid water (SLW) cloud and the snowfall observed at the surface. KH wavelengths of 1.5 km consisted of ∼750-m-wide up- and downdrafts. A distinct fluctus region appeared as a wave-breaking cloud top where the fastest updraft was observed to exceed 5 m s−1. Relatively weaker updrafts of 0.5–1.5 m s−1beneath the fluctus and partially overlapping the dendritic growth zone were associated with steep gradients in reflectivity of −5 to 20 dBZein as little as 500-m depths due to rapid growth of pristine planar ice crystals. The falling snow removed ∼80% of the SLW content from the underlying cloud and led to a twofold increase in surface liquid equivalent snowfall rate from 0.6 to 1.3 mm h−1. This paper presents the first known study of cloud-top KH waves producing snowfall with observations of increased snowfall rates at the surface.more » « less
-
Abstract Since the 1950s, high frequency and very high frequency radars near the magnetic equator have frequently detected strong echoes caused ultimately by the Farley‐Buneman instability (FBI) and the gradient drift instability (GDI). In the 1980s, coordinated rocket and radar campaigns made the astonishing observation of flat‐topped electric fields coincident with both meter‐scale irregularities and the passage of kilometer‐scale waves. The GDI in the daytimeEregion produces kilometer‐scale primary waves with polarization electric fields large enough to drive meter‐scale secondary FBI waves. The meter‐scale waves propagate nearly vertically along the large‐scale troughs and crests and act as VHF tracers for the large‐scale dynamics. This work presents a set of hybrid numerical simulations of secondary FBIs, driven by a primary kilometer‐scale GDI‐like wave. Meter‐scale density irregularities develop in the crest and trough of the kilometer‐scale wave, where the total electric field exceeds the FBI threshold, and propagate at an angle near the direction of total Hall drift determined by the combined electric fields. The meter‐scale irregularities transport plasma across the magnetic field, producing flat‐topped electric fields similar to those observed in rocket data and reducing the large‐scale wave electric field to just above the FBI threshold value. The self‐consistent reduction in driving electric field helps explain why echoes from the FBI propagate near the plasma acoustic speed.more » « less
-
Abstract Artificial periodic inhomogeneity or API experiments were conducted at the HAARP facility in Gakona, Alaska, in October 2022. The experiments concentrated on measuring ionospheric irregularities induced in theE‐region. The irregularities exhibited characteristics regarding their occurrence altitudes, rise and fall times, and Doppler shifts comparable to results from experiments conducted previously at HAARP and elsewhere. The irregularities also occurred in discrete altitude bands. Seeking to quantify these results, we constructed a simple, one‐dimensional fluid model which includes the effects of HF wave heating (direct and indirect) together with electron and ion cooling and thermal conduction, ion production, loss, and diffusion. Critically, the model includes a potential solver and can represent the ambipolar electric field. The model produced API irregularities in three distinct altitude bands which decayed according to the ambipolar diffusion rate.more » « less
