In recent years, large electron temperature increases of 300% (3000 K above background) caused by powerful HF‐radio wave injection have been observed during nighttime using the EISCAT incoherent scatter radar near Tromsø in northern Norway. In a case study we examine the spatial structure of the modified region. The electron heating is accompanied by ion heating of about 100 degrees and magnetic field‐aligned measurements show ion outflows increasing with height up to 300 m s⁻¹ at 582 km. The electron density decreases by up to 20%. When the radar antenna was scanned between three elevations from near field‐aligned to vertical, the strongest heating effects were always obtained in the field‐aligned position. When the HF‐pump beam was scanned between the same three positions, the heating was still almost always strongest in the field‐aligned direction. Simultaneous images of the 630 nm O(¹D) line in the radio‐induced aurora showed that the enhancement caused by the HF radio waves also remained localized near the field‐aligned position. Coherent HF radar backscatter also appeared strongest when the pump beam was pointed field‐aligned. These results are similar to some Langmuir turbulence phenomena which also show a strong preference for excitation by HF rays launched in the field‐aligned direction. The correlation of the position of largest temperature enhancement with the position of the radio‐induced aurora suggests that a common mechanism, upper‐hybrid wave turbulence, is responsible for both effects. Why the strongest heating effects occur for HF rays directed along the magnetic field is still unclear, but self‐focusing on field‐aligned striations is a candidate mechanism, and possibly ionospheric tilts may be important.

We present experimental results from multiinstrument observations in the high‐latitude ionospheric F ₂ layer at the EISCAT (European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association) heating facility. The results come from a set of experiments, when an X ‐polarized HF pump wave at high heater frequencies ( f _H > 6.0 MHz) was injected into the F region of the ionosphere toward the magnetic zenith. Experiments were carried out under quiet magnetic conditions with an effective radiated power of 458–548 MW. HF pumping was produced at different heater frequencies, away from electron gyroharmonic frequencies, and different durations of heater pulses. We show the first experimental evidence of the excitation of artificial optical emissions at red (630 nm) and green (557.7 nm) lines in the high‐latitude ionospheric F ₂ layer induced by an X ‐polarized HF pump wave. Intensities at red and green lines varied in the range 110–950 R and 50–350 R, respectively, with a ratio of green to red line of 0.35–0.5. The results of optical observations are compared with behaviors of the HF‐enhanced ion and plasma lines from EISCAT UHF incoherent scatter radar data and small‐scale field‐aligned artificial irregularities from Cooperative UK Twin Located Auroral Sounding System observations. It was found that the X ‐mode radio‐induced optical emissions coexisted with HF‐enhanced ion and plasma lines and strong artificial field‐aligned irregularities throughout the whole heater pulse. It is indicative that parametric decay or oscillating two‐stream instabilities were not quenched by fully established small‐scale field‐aligned artificial irregularities excited by an X ‐mode HF pump wave.

We present experimental results concentrating on a variety of phenomena in the high latitude ionosphere F2 layer induced by an extraordinary (X-mode) HF pump wave at high heater frequencies (f_H=6.2–8.0 MHz), depending on the pump frequency proximity to the ordinary and extraordinary mode critical frequencies, foF2 and fxF2. The experiments were carried out at the EISCAT HF heating facility with an effective radiated power of 450–650 MW in October 2012 and October–November 2013. Their distinctive feature is a wide diapason of critical frequency changes, when the f_H/foF2 ratio was varied through a wide range from 0.9 to 1.35. It provides both a proper comparison of X-mode HF-induced phenomena excited under different ratios of f_H/foF2 and an estimation of the frequency range above foF2 in which such X-mode phenomena are still possible. It was shown that the HF-enhanced ion and plasma lines are excited above foF2 when the HF pump frequency is lying in range between the foF2 and fxF2, foF2≤f_H≤fxF2, whereas small-scale field-aligned irregularities continued to be generated even when f_H exceeded fxF2 by up to 1 MHz and an X-polarized pump wave cannot be reflected from the ionosphere. Another parameter of importance is the magnetic zenith effect (HF beam/radar angle direction) which is typical for X-mode phenomena under f_H/foF2 >1 as well as f_H/foF2 ≤1. We have shown for the first time that an X-mode HF pump wave is able to generate strong narrowband spectral components in the SEE spectra (within 1 kHz of pump frequency) in the ionosphere F region, which were recorded at distance of 1200 km from the HF heating facility. The observed spectral lines can be associated with the ion acoustic, electrostatic ion cyclotron, and electrostatic ion cyclotron harmonic waves (otherwise known as neutralized ion Bernstein waves). The comparison between the O- and X-mode SEE spectra recorded at distance far from HF heating facility clearly demonstrated that variety of the narrowband spectral structures were only observed under X-mode HF pumping. The potential generation mechanisms of the different narrowband spectral components are discussed.

High-frequency heating of the ionosphere is effective for generating extremely low frequencies (ELF, 3–3000 Hz) through modulation of the auroral electrojet current. While the amplitudes of the resulting ELF waves depend on the auroral electrojet current strength, the polarization of their horizontal magnetic field remains relatively stable. In this work, we determined that at the distance of several wavelengths from an ionospheric ELF source created by two HF heating waves separated by an ELF frequency, polarization parameters are influenced by the Earth-ionosphere waveguide. Previous experiments in the vicinity of the ionospheric ELF source have determined that the right-hand polarization of the magnetic field measured at the ground typically prevails, whereas in this paper we demonstrate that at the distance of 660 km to the east of the European Incoherent Scatter, a circular left-hand polarization dominates. We interpret this effect as a result of “trapping” of the left-hand mode between the upper and lower boundaries of the Earth-ionosphere waveguide, while the right-hand or whistler mode leaks into the ionosphere.

We presented experimental results of strong plasma modifications induced by X-mode powerful HF radio waves injected towards the magnetic zenith into the high latitude F region of the ionosphere. The experiments were conducted in 2009–2011 using the EISCAT Heating facility, UHF incoherent scatter radar and the EISCAT ionosonde at Tromsø, Norway; and the CUTLASS SuperDARN HF coherent radar at Hankasalmi, Finland. The results showed that the X-mode HF pump wave can generate strong small-scale artificial field aligned irregularities (AFAIs) in the F region of the high-latitude ionosphere. These irregularities, with spatial scales across the geomagnetic field of the order of 9–15m, were excited when the heater frequency (fH) was above the ordinary-mode critical frequency (foF2) by 0.1–1.2MHz. It was found that the X-mode AFAIs appeared between 10s and 4min after the heater is turned on. Their decay time varied over a wide range between 3min and 30min. The excitation of X-mode AFAIs was accompanied by electron temperature (Te) enhancements and an increase in the electron density (Ne) depending on the effective radiated power (ERP). Under ERPs of about 75–180MW the Te enhances up to 50% above the background level and an increase in Ne of up to 30% were observed. Dramatic changes in the Te and Ne behavior occurred at effective radiated powers of about 370–840MW, when the Ne and Te values increased up to 100% above the background ones. It was found that AFAIs, Ne and Te enhancements occurred, when the extraordinary-mode critical frequency (fxF2) lied in the frequency range fH–fce/2≤fxF2≤fH+fce/2, where fce is the electron gyrofrequency. The strong Ne enhancements were observed only in the magnetic field-aligned direction in a wide altitude range up to the upper limit of the UHF radar measurements. In addition, the maximum value of Ne is about 50km higher than the Te enhancement peak. Such electron density enhancements (artificial ducts) cannot be explained by temperature-dependent reaction rates. They can be attributed to HF-induced ionization production by accelerated electrons. The possible mechanisms for plasma modifications induced by powerful X-mode HF radio waves were discussed