Comparison of the effects induced by the ordinary (O-mode) and extraordinary (X-mode) polarized powerful HF radio waves in the high-latitude ionospheric F region

Abstract

Using the results of coordinated experiments on the modification of the high-latitude ionosphere by powerful HF radio emission of the EISCAT/Heating facility, effects of the impact of powerful HF radio waves of the ordinary (O-mode) and extraordinary (Х-mode) polarization on the high-latitude ionospheric F region have been compared. During the experiments, a powerful HF radio wave was emitted in the magnetic zenith direction at frequencies within the 4.5–7.9 MHz range. The effective power of the emission was 150–650 MW. The behavior and characteristics of small-scale artificial ionospheric irregularities (SAIIs) during O- and X-heating at low and high frequencies are considered in detail. A principal difference has been found in the development of the Langmuir and ion–acoustic turbulence (intensified by the heating of the plasma and ion–acoustic lines in the spectrum of the EISCAT radar of incoherent scatter of radio waves) in the О- and Х-heating cycles after switching on the heating facility. It has been shown that, under the influence on the ionospheric plasma of a powerful HF radio wave of the Х-polarization, intense spectral components in the spectrum of the narrow-band artificial ionospheric radio emission (ARI) were registered at distances on the order of 1200 km from the heating facility.