On the Influence of Electron Drift Velocity Shear on the Farley–Buneman Instability in the Ionospheric E-Region

Abstract

The influence of electron drift velocity shear on the Farley–Buneman instability in the ionospheric E-region is considered. First, we consider evolution with time of small-amplitude Farley–Buneman waves in the sheared plasma using Laplace transform in time and the exact solution for the model linear layer. As a result we obtain the Farley–Buneman waves with the component of the wave vector along the non-uniformity increasing with time. Second, we consider development of the Farley–Buneman instability in the sheared plasma using an approximate analytical method. We find that the electron drift velocity shear has a stabilizing influence on the Farley–Buneman instability. Also we find that the Farley–Buneman waves with the maximum amplitude have phase velocities close to the ion-acoustic velocity.