Nicola Schlatter

DETECTION OF A HYDROGEN CORONA IN HST Ly alpha IMAGES OF EUROPA IN TRANSIT OF JUPITER

We report far-ultraviolet observations of Europa in transit of Jupiter obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph of the Hubble Space Telescope on six occasions between 2014 December an ...

On the relation of Langmuir turbulence radar signatures to auroral conditions

We present a statistical study of anomalous radar echoes observed in the auroral ionosphere thought to be signatures of Langmuir turbulence (LT). Data obtained with the European Incoherent Scatter Svalbard radar during the international polar year (IPY) were searched for these anomalous echoes in the auroral F region. In incoherent scatter radar experiments LT may in certain circumstances be observed as enhanced backscattered radar power at the ion line frequencies, plasma line frequencies, and at zero Doppler shift. The power enhancement at zero Doppler shift could arise due to Bragg scattering from nonpropagating density fluctuations caused by strong LT. In the IPY data set, around 0.02% of the data comply with our search criteria for altitudes above 190 km based on the ion line spectrum including enhancement at zero Doppler shift. The occurrence frequency of the identified events peaks in the premidnight sector and increases with local geomagnetic disturbance. Enhanced backscattered power is observed with limited altitude extent (below 20 km in 70% of the events), and the altitude distribution of identified radar signatures in the ion line channel has a peak at about 220 km. Enhancement of the plasma line is observed with the ion line enhancements in more than 60% of the events. Two classes of enhanced plasma lines occur. In the first class, plasma lines are limited in frequency and altitude and occur at altitudes of ion line enhancements. In the second class, the plasma lines are spread in frequency and range and are observed at lower altitudes than the first class (at about 170 km) with frequencies close to 3 MHz. Available optical data available indicate that the identified events to occur during auroral breakup with high-energy electron precipitation.

Heater-induced ionization inferred from spectrometric airglow measurements

Spectrographic airglow measurements were made during an ionospheric modification experiment at High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program on 12 March 2013. Artificial airglow enhancements at 427.8, 557.7, 630.0, 777.4, and 844.6 nm were observed. On the basis of these emissions and using a methodology based on the method of Backus and Gilbert (1968, 1970), we estimate the suprathermal electron population and the subsequent equilibrium electron density profile, including contributions from electron impact ionization. We find that the airglow is consistent with heater-induced ionization in view of the spatial intermittency of the airglow.