Radar Studies of E and F Region Electrodynamics at Arecibo

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The investigator is conducting comprehensive ionospheric E- and F-region electrodynamics studies at Arecibo Observatory. Inspired by discovering an ionospheric phenomenon termed 'ion rain,' he is testing and extending hypotheses about the origin and scale of these 'new' electrodynamic processes resulting in ion rain, and related phenomena, including true sporadic E. Using intensive incoherent scatter radar observations, numerical simulations and theoretical studies, he is hoping to better understand the origin and evolution of apparently small horizontal-scale structures observed as linked sporadic-E, ion rain, and spread-F events. His observational approaches will confirm or deny the existence of hypothesized small horizontal-scale electric field structures, mapped along the largely equipotential geomagnetic field lines, and thus connecting the electrodynamics of the E- and F-regions to the magnetic conjugate point. The studies are interactively continued with data obtained on actual three dimensional plasma distributions and drifts/E-fields.