Abstract
This paper presents more data on the properties of type-1 irregularities in the nighttime midlatitude E-region ionosphere. The measurements were made with a 50-MHz Doppler radar system operating in Crete, Greece. The type-1 echoes last from several seconds to a few minutes and are characterized by narrow Doppler spectra with peaks corresponding to wave phase velocities of 250–350 m/s. The average velocity of 285 m/s is about 20% lower than nominal E-region ion-acoustic speeds, probably because of the presence of heavy metallic ions in the sporadic-E-layers that appear to be associated with the mid-latitude plasma instabilities. Sometimes the type-1 echoes are combined with a broad spectrum of type-2 echoes; at other times they dominate the spectrum or may appear in the absence of any type-2 spectral component. We believe these echoes are due to the modified two-stream plasma instability driven by a polarization electric field that must be larger than 10 mV/m. This field is similar in nature to the equatorial electrojet polarization field and can arise when patchy nighttime sporadic-E-layers have the right geometry.
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Haldoupis, C., Farley, D.T. & Schlegel, K. Type-1 echoes from the mid-latitude E-Region ionosphere. Annales Geophysicae 15, 908–917 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-997-0908-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-997-0908-2