HF Induced Modifications of the Electron Density Profile in the Earth's
Ionosphere Using the Pump Frequencies Near the Fourth Electron
Gyroharmonic
Abstract
We discuss results on plasma density profile modifications in the
F-region ionosphere caused by HF heating with the frequency
f0 in the range [(-150 kHz)-(+75 kHz)] around
the 4th electron gyroharmonic
4fc. The experiments were conducted at the HAARP
facility on June 2014. The multi-frequency Doppler Sounder (MDS) which
measures the phase and amplitude of reflected sounding radio waves
complemented by the observations of the Stimulated Electromagnetic
Emission (SEE) were used for the diagnostics of the plasma
perturbations. We detected noticeable plasma expulsion from the
reflection region of the pumping wave, and from the upper hybrid region,
the expulsion from the latter one had been strongly suppressed for
f0≈4fc. The plasma
expulsion from the upper hybrid region was accompanied with the sounding
wave’s anomalous absorption slower developing for
f0≈4fc. Also, slower
developing and weaker expulsion was detected for the height region
between the pump wave reflection and upper hybrid altitudes.