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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 33, L22107, doi:10.1029/2006GL028033, 2006

Simulations of the scintillation-producing irregularities in high-latitude plasma patches

N. A. Gondarenko

Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA


P. N. Guzdar

Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA


Abstract

The simulation study of mesoscale scintillation-producing irregularities obtained with the 3-D nonlinear model for the structuring by the gradient-drift instability (GDI) and the velocity-shear-driven instability in high-latitude plasma patches is presented. We have identified four groups of mesoscale structures based on the structuring mechanisms. The amplitudes of the scintillation-producing irregularities have been described with a normalized irregularity index which is proportional to the scintillation index S 4 and accounts for the greatest variability in ionospheric scintillation. We have demonstrated that the dominant mechanism which can lead to intense scintillation is related to the patch structuring by the primary GDI and high plasma density in a patch. In the velocity shear simulations, the values of the irregularity index are found to be weaker than those produced in the simulations with no shear. The relations between the magnitudes of the simulated electric field and density irregularities have been derived for each category.

Received 8 September 2006; accepted 24 October 2006; published 29 November 2006.

Keywords: mesoscale structures; scintillation-producing irregularities; structuring in high-latitude patches.

Index Terms: 2411 Ionosphere: Electric fields (2712); 2439 Ionosphere: Ionospheric irregularities; 2475 Ionosphere: Polar cap ionosphere; 7863 Space Plasma Physics: Turbulence (4490); 7944 Space Weather: Ionospheric effects on radio waves.

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Citation: Gondarenko, N. A., and P. N. Guzdar (2006), Simulations of the scintillation-producing irregularities in high-latitude plasma patches, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L22107, doi:10.1029/2006GL028033.