Physics Commons^™

The Investigation Of Gravity Waves In The Mesosphere / Lower Thermosphere And Their Effect On Sporadic Sodium Layer, Xuguang Cai

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Gravity waves in the atmosphere are the waves with gravity and buoyancy force as the restoring forces. Gravity waves will significantly impact the Mesosphere Lower / Thermosphere (MLT), and the breaking of gravity waves is the key factor to cause the cool summer and warm winter in the Mesopause region. Therefore, it is important for us to investigate gravity waves. In this dissertation, we mainly use USU Na lidar data to explore gravity waves in the MLT. The exploration is made up of two projects. One is the investigation of gravity wave breaking and the associated dynamic instability by USU …

Gradient Drift Instability Growth Rates From Global-Scale Modeling Of The Polar Ionosphere, Jan Josef Sojka, M. V. Subramanium, L. Zhu, Robert W. Schunk

All Physics Faculty Publications

The winter polar ionosphere, under southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions, experiences irregularity development leading to consequences such as scintillation on transionospheric communication links. These irregularities are associated with antisunward convecting polar ionospheric patches. The gradient drift instability (GDI) has been considered a primary candidate for the generation of these irregularities, or at least the long-wavelength energy source of the irregularity-wave cascade process. The Utah State University time-dependent ionospheric model (TDIM) enables the polar cap ionosphere and its patches to be modeled on a large scale in a time-evolving manner. Hence, at each point in space and time, the TDIM …

A Study Of The Gradient Drift Instability In The High-Latitude Ionosphere Using The Utah State University Time Dependent Ionospheric Model, Mahesh Subramanium

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research over the years has established that the Gradient Drift Instability process causes small-scale irregularities, mostly along the edges of the high-latitude polar cap patches. Studying these irregularities will help in the development of a Global Scale Ionospheric model, which is a central part of a global space weather forecast system. Much theoretical work has been done with varying degrees of complexity to study this instability in the high latitude patches.

In this work we have used the Utah State University Time Dependent Ionospheric Model to model the high-latitude patches, calculate the growth rate of the instability, and perform a …

Studies Of Self-Focusing Instability At Arecibo, D. T. Farley, C. Lahoz, Bela G. Fejer

Bela G. Fejer

Precisely simultaneous radar and satellite measurements at the altitude of reflection of a strong HF heating wave above the Arecibo Observatory were made on June 7, 1977. Parametric instabilities produce strong enhancements in the plasma line and ion line incoherent scatter radar echoes. These echoes also exhibit periodic deep fading that is attributed to a self-focusing instability. This explanation was confirmed by the in situ observation of electron density fluctuations with peak-to-peak amplitudes reaching at least 3% and a spatial dependence that corresponded closely to the radar fading pattern, at least for irregularity wavelengths ranging from a few hundred meters …

Vertical Structure Of The Vhf Backscattering Region In The Equatorial Electrojet And The Gradient Drift Instability, Bela G. Fejer, D. T. Farley, B. B. Balsley, R. F. Woodman

Bela G. Fejer

Radar measurements made with high spatial resolution and large dynamic range at the Jicamarca Radar Observatory near the time of reversal of the electrojet current provide further proof that the gradient drift instability is in fact responsible for the type 2 irregularities. Echoes are received over a much wider range of altitudes at night than during the day partly because of the change in character of the background electron density profile and partly because of recombination effects, which can be important during the day. It is also shown that one must be cautious, particularly at night, in associating the mean …