Low frequency waves in HF heating of the mid-latitude ionosphere

The heating of the ionsosphere by high frequency (HF) radio waves leads to plasma processes with a wide range of scales. In the high-latitude ionosphere, extensive studies using numerical simulations using a Hall-magnetohydrodynamic model and experiments with the HAARP facility have provided a comprehensive understanding of the generation of low frequency hydromagnetic waves, both in the presence and absence of the auroral electrojet. Modulated HF heating in the F-region produces a local modulation of the electron temperature and the resulting pressure gradient give rise to a diamagnetic current, which in turn excites magnetosonic waves that propagate away from the heating region. In the E-region, where the Hall conductivity is dominant, these waves lead to oscillating Hall currents that produce shear Alfvén waves. These waves propagate along the field lines to the ground, where they are detected by ground-based magnetometers and into the magnetosphere. The observations of the shear Alfven waves by DEMETER satellite when its trajectory is over the HAARP magnetic zenith have shown the wave propagation to higher altitudes. For the mid latitude ionosphere the simulations use the Earth’s dipole magnetic field and the heating region is located at L = 1.6 and altitude of 300 km. With HF waves modulated at 2 – 10 Hz the low frequency waves are generated by essentially the same processes as in the high-latitude case, with additional features arising from the magnetic geometry of the mid-latitude ionosphere. The shear Alfven waves propagating to the magnetosphere become electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves at higher altitudes but do not propagate beyond the ion cyclotron resonance layer. The heating of the ionosphere generates many plasma modes, viz., the Alfven, magnetosonic, helicon, whistler and electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, and comparison of their properties with measurements during experiments (Arecibo and Sura) will be presented

Simulations of ionospheric turbulence produced by HF heating near the upper hybrid layer

Heating of the ionosphere by high-frequency (HF), ordinary (O) mode electromagnetic waves can excite magnetic field aligned density striations (FAS), associated with upper and lower hybrid turbulence and electron heating. We have used Vlasov simulations in one spatial and two velocity dimensions to study the induced turbulence in the presence of striations when the O-mode pump is mode converted to large amplitude upper hybrid oscillations trapped in a striation. Parametric processes give rise to upper and lower hybrid turbulence, as well as to large amplitude, short wavelength electron Bernstein waves. The latter excite stochastic electron heating when their amplitudes exceed a threshold for stochasticity, leading to a rapid increase of the electron temperature by several thousands of Kelvin. The results have relevance for high latitude heating experiments

Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Through E-region Turbulence: Anomalous Conductivities and Frictional Heating

Global magnetospheric MHD codes using ionospheric conductances based on laminar models systematically overestimate the cross-polar cap potential during storm time by up to a factor of two. At these times, strong DC electric fields penetrate to the E region and drive plasma instabilities that create turbulence. This plasma density turbulence induces non-linear currents, while associated electrostatic field fluctuations result in strong anomalous electron heating. These two effects will increase the global ionospheric conductance. Based on the theory of non-linear currents developed in the companion paper, this paper derives the correction factors describing turbulent conductivities and calculates turbulent frictional heating rates. Estimates show that during strong geomagnetic storms the inclusion of anomalous conductivity can double the total Pedersen conductance. This may help explain the overestimation of the cross-polar cap potentials by existing MHD codes. The turbulent conductivities and frictional heating presented in this paper should be included in global magnetospheric codes developed for predictive modeling of space weather.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 2nd of two companion paper

NUV/Blue spectral observations of sprites in the 320-460 nm region: N2{\mathrm N_2} (2PG) Emissions

A near-ultraviolet (NUV) spectrograph (320-460 nm) was flown on the EXL98 aircraft sprite observation campaign during July 1998. In this wavelength range video rate (60 fields/sec) spectrographic observations found the NUV/blue emissions to be predominantly N2 (2PG). The negligible level of N2+ (1NG) present in the spectrum is confirmed by observations of a co-aligned, narrowly filtered 427.8 nm imager and is in agreement with previous ground-based filtered photometer observations. The synthetic spectral fit to the observations indicates a characteristic energy of ~1.8 eV, in agreement with our other NUV observations.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, JGR Space Physics "Effects of Thunderstorms and Lightning in the Upper Atmosphere" Special Sectio

Internal Duality for Resolution of Rings

It has been argued in the technical literature, and widely reported in the popular press, that cosmic ray air showers (CRASs) can initiate lightning via a mechanism known as relativistic runaway electron avalanche (RREA), where large numbers of high-energy and low-energy electrons can, somehow, cause the local atmosphere in a thundercloud to transition to a conducting state. In response to this claim, other researchers have published simulations showing that the electron density produced by RREA is far too small to be able to affect the conductivity in the cloud sufficiently to initiate lightning. In this paper, we compare 74days of cosmic ray air shower data collected in north central Florida during 2013-2015, the recorded CRASs having primary energies on the order of 10(16)eV to 10(18)eV and zenith angles less than 38 degrees, with Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) data, and we show that there is no evidence that the detected cosmic ray air showers initiated lightning. Furthermore, we show that the average probability of any of our detected cosmic ray air showers to initiate a lightning flash can be no more than 5%. If all lightning flashes were initiated by cosmic ray air showers, then about 1.6% of detected CRASs would initiate lightning; therefore, we do not have enough data to exclude the possibility that lightning flashes could be initiated by cosmic ray air showers

Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Through E-region Turbulence 1: Energy Budget

During periods of intense geomagnetic activity, strong electric fields and currents penetrate from the magnetosphere into high-latitude ionosphere where they dissipate energy, form electrojets, and excite plasma instabilities in the E-region ionosphere. These instabilities give rise to plasma turbulence which induces non-linear currents and strong anomalous electron heating (AEH) as observed by radars. These two effects can increase the global ionospheric conductances. This paper analyzes the energy budget in the electrojet, while the companion paper applies this analysis to develop a model of anomalous conductivity and frictional heating useful in large-scale simulations and models of the geospace environment. Employing first principles, this paper proves for the general case an earlier conjecture that the source of energy for plasma turbulence and anomalous heating equals the work by external field on the non-linear current. Using a two-fluid model of an arbitrarily magnetized plasma and the quasilinear approximation, this paper describes the energy conversion process, calculates the partial sources of anomalous heating, and reconciles the apparent contradiction between the inherently 2-D non-linear current and the 3-D nature of AEH.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure; 1st of two companion paper

Angular distribution of Bremsstrahlung photons and of positrons for calculations of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and positron beams

Within thunderstorms electrons can gain energies of up to hundred(s) of MeV. These electrons can create X-rays and gamma-rays as Bremsstrahlung when they collide with air molecules. Here we calculate the distribution of angles between incident electrons and emitted photons as a function of electron and photon energy. We derive these doubly differential cross-sections by integrating analytically over the triply differential cross-sections derived by Bethe and Heitler; this is appropriate for light atoms like nitrogen and oxygen (Z=7,8) if the energy of incident and emitted electron is larger than 1 keV. We compare our results with the approximations and cross section used by other authors. We also discuss some simplifying limit cases, and we derive some simple approximation for the most probable scattering angle. We also provide cross sections for the production of electron positron pairs from energetic photons when they interact with air molecules. This process is related to the Bremsstrahlung process by some physical symmetry. Therefore the results above can be transferred to predictions on the angles between incident photon and emitted positron, again as a function of photon and positron energy. We present the distribution of angles and again a simple approximation for the most probable scattering angle. Our results are given as analytical expressions as well as in the form of a C++ code that can be directly be implemented into Monte Carlo codes.Comment: 75 pages, 19 figures, 1 table, 1 source cod

Comparison of Image Restoration Methods for Lunar Epithermal Neutron Emission Mapping

Orbital measurements of neutrons by the Lunar Exploring Neutron Detector (LEND) onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter are being used to quantify the spatial distribution of near surface hydrogen (H). Inferred H concentration maps have low signal-to-noise (SN) and image restoration (IR) techniques are being studied to enhance results. A single-blind. two-phase study is described in which four teams of researchers independently developed image restoration techniques optimized for LEND data. Synthetic lunar epithermal neutron emission maps were derived from LEND simulations. These data were used as ground truth to determine the relative quantitative performance of the IR methods vs. a default denoising (smoothing) technique. We review and used factors influencing orbital remote sensing of neutrons emitted from the lunar surface to develop a database of synthetic "true" maps for performance evaluation. A prior independent training phase was implemented for each technique to assure methods were optimized before the blind trial. Method performance was determined using several regional root-mean-square error metrics specific to epithermal signals of interest. Results indicate unbiased IR methods realize only small signal gains in most of the tested metrics. This suggests other physically based modeling assumptions are required to produce appreciable signal gains in similar low SN IR applications

Lightning Generated Gamma Ray Bursts

The prime focus of this effort is to advance the state of understanding of correlation between lightning strokes and gamma-ray flashes. key issue addressed was the revision of the existing models of runaway breakdown in the stratosphere due to low altitude lightning, which are related to the source of gamma-ray flashes. The revision includes the assessment of the effect due to geomagnetic field on the development of runaway discharge