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Relative Solar And Auroral Contribution To The Polar F Region: Implications For National Space Weather Program, Michael David, Jan Josef Sojka, Robert W. Schunk, R. Heelis

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When plasma in the polar cap F region becomes highly structured, patches, irregularities, and scintillations of HF signals may be observed. The topic of this paper is not the mechanism for structuring or distributing the plasma but rather the source of the plasma. By understanding the plasma source we gain insight into the specification and forecasting of ionospheric structures and irregularities as required for space weather applications. The two major sources of polar cap F region plasma are the solar EUV radiation and the auroral precipitation. The region over which solar EUV production occurs is readily modeled. In contrast, the …