Plasma wave excitation on meteor trails in the equatorial electrojet

Elaine Chapin, Erhan Kudeki

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The unusual properties of meteor echoes recently observed at Jicamarca [Chapin and Kudeki, 1994] are attributed to the growth and propagation of plasma irregularities along meteor trails deposited within the equatorial electrojet. It is suggested that trails at electrojet heights must carry intense discharge currents that excite two‐stream and/or gradient drift instabilities for irregularity growth. The direction of electron motion responsible for the discharge current agrees with the Doppler shift of the high frequency components in meteor echo signals.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2433-2436
Number of pages4
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume21
Issue number22
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1 1994
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Plasma wave excitation on meteor trails in the equatorial electrojet'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this