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Ion Cyclotron Waves As Apossible Source Of Resonant Auroral Radar Echoes, Bela G. Fejer, R. W. Reed, D. T. Farley, W. E. Swartz, M. C. Kelley

Bela G. Fejer

Auroral backscatter radar observations were made from Ithaca, New York, at 50 MHz during the early morning of April 1, 1976, a period of high magnetic disturbance (Kp ∼ 8). The backscattered power showed large rapid (time scale of a few minutes or less) variations, characteristic of discrete radar aurora, from L = 3.5–4. Doppler spectra of waves propagating in nearly the north-south direction from up to 28 different ranges were obtained simultaneously with good spatial (7.5 km) and temporal (2 s) resolution. Some unusual spectra with very narrow peaks at Doppler shifts between about 70 and 90 Hz were …