Diffraction Model of Ionospheric Irregularity-Induced Heater-Wave Pattern
Detected on the WIND Satellite

P. N. Guzdar and N. A. Gondarenko
Institute for Plasma Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

K. Papadopoulos,* G. M. Milikh, and A. S. Sharma
Departments of Physics* and Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

P. Rodriguez
Information Technology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC

Yu. V. Tokarev and Yu. I. Belov
Radiophysical Research Institute, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

S. L. Ossakow
Plasma Physics Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC

Geophysical Research Letters 27, 317-320 (2000)

Abstract. High frequency (HF) radiation from the HAARP and SURA ionospheric heaters transmitted through the underdense ionosphere and received by the WIND satellite show the presence of strong spatial structure in the radiation pattern. A simple model based on the combination of ionospheric irregularities and interference effects has been developed to account for the observations. The analysis demonstrates the utility of satellite receptions as probes of ionospheric irregularities created or enhanced by powerful HF radio waves.

This research was supported by NSF under grant ATM-9713719 and ONR.