Evidence for the stimulation of field-aligned electron density irregularities on a short time scale by ionospheric topside sounders

Ionospheric topside sounders can be considered to act as mobile ionospheric heating facilities. They stimulate a wide variety of plasma phenomena that suggests that significant plasma heating can be produced in the vicinity of the spacecraft following the short duration (0.1 ms) high-power (hundreds of watts) sounder pulse. Most of these phenomena are sensitive to the ambient plasma conditions, particularly to the ratio of the plasma frequency to the gyro frequency . Certain stimulated phenomena only occur, or are greatly enhanced, when where n is an integer. One example is a diffuse signal return that appears at a frequency just above the Z mode wave cutoff frequency (the L = 0 condition in the notation of Stix). This signal, which is the subject of the present paper, is present only for moderately large near-integer values for (e.g., n > 3). It is a relatively short-duration echo—usually less than about 10 ms. These characteristics are quite different from the Z mode echoes often observed between or (whichever is greater) and the upper hybrid frequency . These latter echoes occur for smaller values (not necessarily near-integer values) of and are received during the entire 30 ms listening time period following the sounder pulse. They have been attributed to the scattering of sounder Z mode signals from naturally occurring electron density fieldaligned irregularities (FAI). The short-duration echoes observed just above , on the other hand, are here attributed to the ducting of sounder-generated Z mode waves in sounder-stimulated (or sounderenhanced) FAI. These FAI are believed to be generated (or enhanced) on a very short time scale (? 1 s) by the efficient absorption of sounder energy when the plasma/gyro frequency ratio is nearly an integer value significantly greater than one. The most likely generation process is the filamentation instability driven by the ponderomotive force due to the high-power sounder pulse.     

Daily availability of nutrients and metals in a eutrophic meso-tidal coastal lagoon (Óbidos lagoon, Portugal)

This baseline reports daily variations of physico-chemical parameters, nutrients and metals in water of two sites [eutrophic conditions (BB) versus reference (LL)] in Óbidos coastal lagoon (Portugal). Dissolved oxygen in BB varied between 40% saturation levels (night) and 190% (daylight). , and ratios to Al of Mn, Fe and Pb in suspended particulate matter increased during the period of lower oxygenation, indicating exportation of nutrients and metals from the sediment to water at night. At LL, O₂ values oscillated always around 100%. and Mn/Al ratio at LL were always lower than at BB and no increases were found during the night. The input of and Mn provided from the sediment at BB during the night could surpass the contribution of freshwater discharges. PCA confirmed the separation of most samples from BB and LL. These results pointed to the importance of assessing chemical conditions over day-night cycles.