Theoretical & Experimental Studies Concerning the Interaction of Powerful Radio Waves with the Ionosphere

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It has become possible to heat the ionosphere by irradiating it with powerful radio waves from a ground based transmitter. Such energy absorption also produces instabilities in the ionospheric plasma, optical emission, and high energy electrons. These experiments provide an opportunity to study the physics oflow density plasmas with more control on the perturbing processes than by observing natural processes in the ionosphere. A collaboration between a theoretician and an experimentalist using the NSF heater facility at Arecibo Puerto Rico is proposed, to allow testing of theoretical descriptions of ionospheric heating.