Effects of neutral gas motions on midlatitude E region irregular structure |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;2. Electron Microscope Laboratory, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;3. Qingdao University, Qingdao, China;4. State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;5. College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;6. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Zhuhai, China |
| |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the physical nature of neutral wind-induced processes. A simple “pictorial” explanation of the neutral-wind-driven gradient drift and thermal instabilities, originally suggested by Kagan and Kelley (Geophys. Res. Lett. 25 (1998) 4141; J. Geophys. Res. 105 (2000) 5291), is developed for the first time. A formula for the growth rate of a neutral-wind-driven gradient drift instability applicable for an arbitrary latitude is presented. The effectiveness of the neutral wind approach to the problem of midlatitude backscatter in the ionospheric E region is discussed. The paper concludes that there are cases when one may experimentally distinguish between electric field- and neutral wind-driven processes and shows that the backscatter character is defined by either the neutral behavior or the structure of ionization clouds but not by the gradient drift process itself. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
