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Satellite Measurements of Plasma Disturbances and Electric Currents Induced in the Midlatitude Ionosphere Modified by High-Power HF Radio Waves

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Abstract

We have analyzed the experimental data obtained in 2016–2019 from the measurements of plasma disturbances and electric currents induced at ionospheric altitudes upon the modification of the F2 region of the midlatitude ionosphere by means of high-power HF radio waves emitted by the SURA heating facility. The measurements were carried out using the onboard instruments of the SWARM satellites. The conditions for the generation of electric currents and the dependence of their characteristics on the ionospheric conditions were determined. The satellite measurement results were compared with the results of experiments in laboratory plasma. The development of artificial plasma disturbances in the Earth’s outer ionosphere was found to depend on thermal diffusion processes with unipolar diffusion coefficients, which are accompanied by the excitation of short-circuit eddy currents in the background plasma.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to the staff of the SURA facility, as well as the team of the SWARM space mission of the European Space Agency, for their help in organizing and conducting experiments and obtaining the satellite measurement data.

Funding

This study was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research as part of scientific project no. 20-05-00166. The comparison of the results of ionospheric and laboratory studies (Section 4) was carried out with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, grant no. 21-12-00385.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scientific Research Institute of Radio Physics, Lobachevsky State University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

    V. L. Frolov, A. O. Ryabov & I. A. Bolotin

  2. Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia

    V. L. Frolov

  3. Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    R. Yu. Luk’yanova

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  1. V. L. Frolov
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  2. R. Yu. Luk’yanova
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Correspondence to V. L. Frolov.

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Translated by M. Chubarova

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Frolov, V.L., Luk’yanova, R.Y., Ryabov, A.O. et al. Satellite Measurements of Plasma Disturbances and Electric Currents Induced in the Midlatitude Ionosphere Modified by High-Power HF Radio Waves. Cosmic Res 59, 231–249 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0010952521040018

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