A. A. Ilyasov

Branches of electrostatic turbulence inside solitary plasma structures in the auroral ionosphere

The excitation of electrostatic turbulence inside space-observed solitary structures is a central topic of this exposition. Three representative solitary structures observed in the topside auroral ionosphere as large-amplitude nonlinear signatures in the electric field and magnetic-field-aligned current on the transverse scales of ∼102–103 m are evaluated by the theories of electrostatic wave generation in inhomogeneous background configurations. A quantitative analysis shows that the structures are, in general, effective in destabilizing the inhomogeneous energy-density-driven (IEDD) waves, as well as of the ion acoustic waves modified by a shear in the parallel drift of ions. It is demonstrated that the dominating branch of the electrostatic turbulence is determined by the interplay of various driving sources inside a particular solitary structure. The sources do not generally act in unison, so that their common effect may be inhibiting for excitation of electrostatic waves of a certain type. In the pre...

Inhomogeneities of plasma density and electric field as sources of electrostatic turbulence in the auroral region

Inhomogeneities of plasma density and non-uniform electric fields are compared as possible sources of a sort of electrostatic ion cyclotron waves that can be identified with broadband extremely low frequency electrostatic turbulence in the topside auroral ionosphere. Such waves are excited by inhomogeneous energy-density-driven instability. To gain a deeper insight in generation of these waves, computational modeling is performed with various plasma parameters. It is demonstrated that inhomogeneities of plasma density can give rise to this instability even in the absence of electric fields. By using both satellite-observed and model spatial distributions of plasma density and electric field in our modeling, we show that specific details of the spatial distributions are of minor importance for the wave generation. The solutions of the nonlocal inhomogeneous energy-density-driven dispersion relation are investigated for various ion-to-electron temperature ratios and directions of wave propagation. The relev...

Influence of inhomogeneities of the plasma density and electric field on the generation of electrostatic noise in the auroral zone

In order to study instabilities caused by inhomogeneities of the electric field and plasma density in the auroral zone, numerical algorithms are developed and numerical simulations are performed for different conditions in the background plasma. To this end, a nonlocal dispersion relation for a given type of wave is analyzed. It is shown that the dispersion relation has unstable solutions in a wide range of frequencies and wavenumbers. These solutions manifest themselves in satellite observations as a broadband spectrum of electrostatic perturbations. Two mechanisms of broadband noise generation related to the gradients of the density and electric field are compared.

Features of wave excitation of the electrostatic ion cyclotron type in the auroral ionosphere

Broadband electrostatic noise in the auroral ionosphere can be identified as a version of waves of an electrostatic ion cyclotron type, excited by plasma instability resulting from an inhomogeneous distribution of wave energy density. Broadband waves are generated due to both electric field inhomogeneities and plasma density inhomogeneities. The effect of the form of the distribution of electric field and plasma density inhomogeneities on the excitation of instabilities is studied. Also there is shown the role of the characteristic scale of inhomogeneities in the generation of electrostatic ion cyclotron waves due to the development of instability of this kind. The study of these issues, which are important for understanding the processes in the auroral region, is the subject of this paper. The work presents also a comparison of numerical results obtained using both satellite data and model approximations.

Reverse flow events and small-scale effects in the cusp ionosphere

We report in-situ measurements of plasma irregularities associated with a reverse flow event (RFE) in the cusp F region ionosphere. The Investigation of Cusp Irregularities 3 (ICI-3) sounding rocket, while flying through a RFE, encountered several regions with density irregularities down to meter-scales. We address in detail the region with the most intense small-scale fluctuations in both the density and in the AC electric field, which were observed on the equatorward edge of an flow shear, and coincided with a double-humped jet of fast flow. Due to its long-wavelength and low-frequency character, the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) alone cannot be the source of the observed irregularities. Using ICI-3 data as inputs we perform a numerical stability analysis of the inhomogeneous energy-density-driven instability (IEDDI) and demonstrate that it can excite electrostatic ion cyclotron waves in a wide range of wavenumbers and frequencies for the electric field configuration observed in that region, which can give rise to the observed small-scale turbulence. The IEDDI can seed as a secondary process on steepened vortices created by a primary KHI. Such an interplay between macro-processes and micro-processes could be an important mechanism for ion heating in relation to RFEs.

Influences of shear in the ion parallel drift velocity and of inhomogeneous perpendicular electric field on generation of oblique ion acoustic waves

It is well known that the broadband electrostatic turbulence observed in the topside auroral ionosphere can be identified with electrostatic ion cyclotron and/or oblique ion acoustic waves. Under certain conditions generation of the ion cyclotron modes is inhibited, so that the oblique ion acoustic waves become the prevailing part of the broadband noise. While generation of ion cyclotron waves by the inhomogeneous distribution of energy density (IEDD) instability has been actively studied in recent years, much less attention was paid to the excitation of ion acoustic waves by means of the IEDD instability. In this work, influence of shear in the ion parallel drift velocities and of inhomogeneous perpendicular electric field on generation of nonlocal oblique ion acoustic mode is studied. It is demonstrated that the shear of the ion parallel drift velocities can generate ion acoustic waves. It is shown that this mechanism of instability development provides broadband spectrum in the frequency range around 0.1 of ion gyrofrequency, and thus, this instability can be invoked to explain the observed broadband electrostatic turbulence in the auroral region. Effect of the main background plasma parameters on excitation of oblique ion acoustic waves is analyzed.

Studies of small-scale plasma inhomogeneities in the cusp ionosphere using sounding rocket data

Microprocesses associated with plasma inhomogeneities are studied on the basis of data from the Investigation of Cusp Irregularities (ICI-3) sounding rocket. The ICI-3 rocket is devoted to investigating a reverse flow event in the cusp F region ionosphere. By numerical stability analysis, it is demonstrated that inhomogeneous-energy-density-driven (IEDD) instability can be a mechanism for the excitation of small-scale plasma inhomogeneities. The Local Intermittency Measure (LIM) method also applied the rocket data to analyze irregular structures of the electric field during rocket flight in the cusp. A qualitative agreement between high values of the growth rates of the IEDD instability and the regions with enhanced LIM is observed. This suggests that IEDD instability is connected to turbulent non-Gaussian processes.Microprocesses associated with plasma inhomogeneities are studied on the basis of data from the Investigation of Cusp Irregularities (ICI-3) sounding rocket. The ICI-3 rocket is devoted to investigating a reverse flow event in the cusp F region ionosphere. By numerical stability analysis, it is demonstrated that inhomogeneous-energy-density-driven (IEDD) instability can be a mechanism for the excitation of small-scale plasma inhomogeneities. The Local Intermittency Measure (LIM) method also applied the rocket data to analyze irregular structures of the electric field during rocket flight in the cusp. A qualitative agreement between high values of the growth rates of the IEDD instability and the regions with enhanced LIM is observed. This suggests that IEDD instability is connected to turbulent non-Gaussian processes.

Excitation of ion-acoustic waves in the high-latitude ionosphere

The broadband electrostatic turbulence generally observed in the high-latitude ionosphere is a superposition of nonlocal waves of ion-acoustic and ion-cyclotron types. In the presence of a shear of ion parallel velocity, ion-acoustic modes can be induced by an instability emerging due to an inhomogeneous distribution of energy density. This paper is devoted to the studies of excitation of oblique ion-acoustic wave in background configurations with inhomogeneous profiles of both electric field and ion parallel velocity. A numerical algorithm has been developed, and instability was simulated at various parameters of background plasma. The general possibility of oblique ion-acoustic wave generation by a gradient of ion parallel velocity is shown. In this case, the wave spectrum is found to be broadband, which agrees with satellite observations.

Instability Caused by an Inhomogeneous Energy Density Distribution as a Possible Source of Electrostatic Broadband Noise

Plasma instability caused by an inhomogeneous energy density distribution is considered. It is shown that this instability can lead to the excitation of electrostatic ion-cyclotron and oblique ion-acoustic waves, generated in the presence of an inhomogeneous transverse electric field and a shear in the parallel drift velocity of the plasma particles. The considered physical mechanisms of the instability generation in plasma can serve as possible sources of broadband electrostatic turbulence in the auroral ionosphere.

Possible Mechanism for Damping of Electrostatic Instability Related to Inhomogeneous Distribution of Energy Density in the Auroral Ionosphere

Satellite observations show that the electrostatic instability, which is expected to occur in most cases due to an inhomogeneous energy density caused by a strongly inhomogeneous transverse electric field (shear of plasma convection velocity), occasionally does not develop inside nonlinear plasma structures in the auroral ionosphere, even though the velocity shear is sufficient for its excitation. In this paper, it is shown that the instability damping can be caused by out-of-phase variations of the electric field and field-aligned current acting in these structures. Therefore, the mismatch of sources of free energy required for the wave generation nearly nullifies their common effect.