Excitation of Ionosphere Instability

Abstract

It is natural to expect that when radio waves act strongly on the ionosphere various types of plasma oscillations become excited and amplified in the modified region. This influences both the propagation of the modifying wave and other waves that propagate in the modified region. An enhanced (so-called anomalous) absorption and scattering of the radio waves sets in. At the same time, the plasma properties are significantly modified—a strongly inhomogeneous structure develops, plasma oscillations are excited, many fast electrons appear, and the emission from the plasma is amplified. An investigation of the instabilities of an ionosphere plasma in the field of a high–power radio wave is therefore of special interest.