Abstract
Abstract. Low-frequency electrostatic fluctuations in the ionospheric E region were detected by instruments on the ROSE rockets. The phase velocity and dispersion of plasma waves in the ionospheric E region are determined by band-pass filtering and cross-correlating data of the electric-field fluctuations detected by the probes on the ROSE F4 rocket. The results were confirmed by a different method of analysis of the same data. The results show that the waves propagate in the Hall-current direction with a velocity somewhat below the ion sound speed obtained for ionospheric conditions during the flight. It is also found that the waves are dispersive, with the longest wavelengths propagating with the lowest velocity.
Highlights
Low-frequency electrostatic waves in the auroral E region over northern Scandinavia were studied by instrumented rocket payloads during the ROSE campaign in 1988/1989
The value for the electron temperature is based on a model which is supported by EISCAT measurements (Kohl et al, 1992)
Measurements on the rocket itself place an upper limit for the actual value of electron temperatures
Summary
Low-frequency electrostatic waves in the auroral E region over northern Scandinavia were studied by instrumented rocket payloads during the ROSE campaign in 1988/1989. Since the measured DC electric ®elds are signi®cantly above the threshold value for the two-stream type instability, we performed a detailed stability analysis for these particular waves, extending the analysis used in obtaining Eqs. The particular features included in our analysis will be especially important near the threshold Detailed studies of these electrojet instabilities are of general interest because these waves provide an example where a large-scale electric ®eld directly excites small-scaleuctuations, without an intermediate energy cascade. ELF signals discussed in the following were ®rst analyzed by Rinnert (1992)
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