Altitude dependent neutral wind effects on the nonlinear motion of a small barium cloud

Abstract

The nonlinear motion of a small F region barium release electrostatically coupled to the E region is studied in the presence of a neutral wind with differing values for the E and F regions. In a reference frame moving with the E region neutral wind an F region neutral wind transverse to the background E0 field is shown to retard or accelerate the evolution of the cloud without otherwise altering the development of the system. When the relative neutral wind has a component parallel to the background E0 field, there is also a change in the direction of the axis of elongation of the cloud as a function of time, although the final direction is independent of the relative neutral wind. Barium cloud and image behavior are shown to be substantially identical for periodic and Dirichlet boundary conditions.