Excitation of zonal flow and magnetic field by Rossby–Khantadze electromagnetic planetary waves in the ionospheric E-layer

Abstract

Nonlinear dynamics of Rossby–Khantadze electromagnetic planetary waves in the weakly ionized ionospheric E-layer is investigated. Along with the prevalent effect of Hall conductivity for these waves, the latitudinal inhomogeneity of both the Earth’s angular velocity and the geomagnetic field becomes essential. It is shown that such short wavelength turbulence of Rossby–Khantadze waves is unstable with respect to the excitation of low-frequency and large-scale perturbations of the zonal flow and magnetic field. The nonlinear mechanism of the instability is driven by the advection of vorticity, leading to the inverse energy cascade toward the longer wavelength. The growth rate of the corresponding instability is found. It is shown that the generation of the intense mean magnetic field is caused by the latitudinal gradient of the geomagnetic field.