Detection of radiation from a heated and modulated equatorial electrojet current system

Abstract

In May 1983, ionospheric heating experiments were conducted using the Jicamarca very high frequency (VHF) radar facility located ∼11 km east of Lima, Peru. Experiments involving high frequency (HF) heating of the lower D-region of the ionosphere were successfully conducted during 1982 using the Arecibo, Puerto Rico HF transmitter located 5km east at Islote, Puerto Rico. These local experiments had characterized the signal radiated from a heated and modulated ionospheric current system near the mid-latitudes. A long-path signal had also been received in September 1982 at Salinas, Puerto Rico from a mid-day equatorial electrojet, heated and modulated by the Jicamarca facility. We have investigated the characteristics of the local signal that would be radiated from a strong equatorial electrojet when heated and modulated, and report here that at the geomagnetic equator they were similar to, but less intense than, those observed at Arecibo, Puerto Rico due to parameter differences. This radiation is believed to be the first detected from a heated and modulated equatorial electrojet current system in the Western Hemisphere.