Anomalous ISR echoes preceding auroral breakup: Evidence for strong Langmuir turbulence

Abstract

Experimental results obtained with the 449‐MHz Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar (PFISR) show unusual features in both the ion line and plasma line measurements during an auroral breakup event. The features are a greatly enhanced flat ion acoustic spectrum (believed to indicate the presence of an additional peak at zero Doppler), and two peaks in the plasma line spectrum. Similar spectral morphologies are observed during active HF ionospheric modification experiments and are considered unmistakable indications of Strong Langmuir Turbulence (SLT). In SLT theory, the central peak in ion acoustic spectrum is caused by Bragg scattering from non‐propagating density fluctuations (cavitons), and the two peaks in the plasma line spectrum are associated with (1) Langmuir waves trapped in the cavitons, at the cold plasma frequency, and (2) a “free mode” at the Langmuir frequency. Free modes are radiated Langmuir waves from collapsing cavitons that follow the linear dispersion relation. The observed turbulence was confined to a thin layer (∼10‐km) centered at ∼230 km altitude.