ISEE-1 observations in the magnetosphere of VLF emissions triggered by nonducted coherent VLF waves during VLF waveinjection experiments

Recent data from the ISEE-1 spacecraft indicates that VLF emissions triggered by nonducted coherent VLF waves can differ in important aspects from VLF emissions triggered by ducted VLF waves.     

Ionospheric precursors of earthquakes recorded by VLF receiver at Tashkent IHY station

Tashkent International Heliophysical Year (IHY) station is a member of Atmospheric Weather Electromagnetic System for Observation, Modeling and Education (AWESOME) network being operated globally to study the ionosphere and the magnetosphere with the help of electromagnetic waves in Very Low Frequency (VLF) band. Regular monitoring of the D- and F-layers of ionosphere over Central Asia territory is being performed on the permanent basis starting year 2008. We have studied VLF amplitude anomalies related to the EQs occurred in 2008–2009 years with magnitude more than 5 on the path way from the VLF transmitters to the Tashkent station assuming that propagation of VLF ground-based transmitters signals can be perturbed by EQ preparation detectable from the ground-based measurements in the VLF bands. For analyzing narrowband data we have used the nighttime fluctuation (NF) method paying attention to the data obtained during the local nighttime (20:00 LT–04:00 LT) in Tashkent where the VLF receiver is operating. The mean nighttime amplitude (or trend) and nighttime fluctuation are found to increase significantly before the EQ occurred on the path way from the transmitters to the receiver. The obtained results have revealed an agreement with VLF amplitude anomalies observed in Tashkent VLF station during the strong EQs occurred on the path way from the transmitters to the receiver. Some results are presented to show the probing potentiality of VLF waves to predict short term EQs with high magnitude.     

太阳活动对VLF传播的一种影响

本文以实验数据为基础, 讨论了在太阳耀斑期间产生的相位周期丢失, 并用对极传播理论解释了这种相位周期丢失的机理。相位周期丢失是电波传播中的一个重要传播现象, 特别是对于低频和甚低频传播。由于太阳耀斑引起的这一传播现象在以往的讨论中比较罕见, 因此, 对这一问题的讨论具有特殊意义。      

日侧极隙纬度VLF波的磁暴效应

利用时序叠加法对1984年4月至1987年2月的日侧极隙纬度VLF波活动指数与磁暴活动作了统计分析。结果表明若以磁暴开始日为第0天,则VLF波活动指数在0至一2天内相对于平均值都有下降的效应,而在第2天或第4天则有明显的上升效应,并且存在着季节不对称性,其中急始型的暴始下降和缓始型的暴后上升效应均显冬大夏小的特征,冬季值约为夏季值的3倍。      

Effects of variations of geomagnetic field on VLF waves induced by beating of two HF waves

Beat wave (BW) high frequency (HF) ionospheric heating experiments were conducted to generate very low frequency (VLF) waves. The VLF waves were registered with a VLF receiver located ～15?km east of the European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) heating facility in Tromsø, Norway. A fluxgate magnetometer was used to monitor auroral electrojet current, and ionospheric conditions were measured using a Dynasonde. Correlation coefficients between VLF amplitudes and the deviation of geomagnetic north–south components were calculated. Experimental results show that strong and positive correlation exists the majority of the time, but sometimes no correlation or even a negative correlation occurred. This is consistent with similar past experiments that took place with exclusively AM generation. These results therefore support the conclusion that BW generation of VLF waves is no different than with AM, likely occurring in the D or lower E ionospheric region.     

VLF波渗透电离层传播计算研究进展

3~30kHz的甚低频（Very-Low-Frequency,VLF）电磁波对近地空间的高能粒子分布具有非常重要的作用.闪电和地面VLF通信台等VLF波主要辐射源产生的VLF波能够渗透进入电离层,并以哨声波模式继续传播至磁层与高能粒子发生相互作用.本文从VLF电磁波渗透电离层传播计算方法的发展、计算模型验证以及模型在电离层现象研究中的应用等方面对VLF波渗透进电离层之后的传播计算的研究进展进行综述,并对未来研究进行初步展望.      

Characteristics of the high-latitude ionospheric particle sources: Transversely accelerated ions (TAI) at 1400 km

The auroral acceleration process that produces transversely accelerated ions is studied in detail using data primarily from a single auroral oval crossing of the ISIS-2 satellite at 1400 km. This data set is of significance because a special operational mode of the soft particle spectrometers allowed unusual temporal and pitch angle resolution to be obtained. We conclude that transversely accelerated ions having a sharp cutoff in pitch angle were accompanied by the emission of a VLF saucer and the simultaneous occurrence of an upstreaming electron beam. In contrast to the very flat pitch angle distribution of the ions, the highly field-aligned upstreaming electrons (well inside the loss cone) accompanying the ions seem to imply the existence of downward directed electric field parallel to B below 1400 km with net potentials in excess of 200 volts. The occurrence of such field-aligned electrons and VLF saucers in association with some transversely accelerated ions provides additional information on the acceleration process and reveals the complexity of the active flux tube.     

预加热时间对低电离层预加热幅度调制的影响

基于电离层连续方程和能量方程，建立预加热模式下低电离层幅度调制加热理论模型，模拟大功率电波幅度调制电离层电导率和电流随时间的变化，分析预加热时间对幅度调制产生的极低频/甚低频（ELF/VLF）强度的影响.结果表明，低电离层中的电流能够被大功率电波有效调制，可以作为ELF/VLF电波的辐射源.预加热幅度调制模式在预加热时间较长时效果更明显.在考虑能耗的情况下，当有效辐射功率为200MW及高频波的调制频率f_ELF/VLF为1kHz时，预加热幅度调制模式辐射ELF/VLF加热0.1s时效果最好，强度可提高约7.95dB.      

Sensing the Earth’s low ionosphere during solar flares using VLF signals and goes solar X-ray data

An analysis of D-region electron density height profile variations, induced by four isolated solar X-ray flares during period from September 2005 to December 2006, based on the amplitude and the phase delay perturbation of 22.1 kHz signal trace from Skelton (54.72 N, 2.88 W) to Belgrade (44.85 N, 20.38 E), coded GQD, was carried out. Solar flare data were taken from NOAA GOES12 satellite one-minute listings. For VLF data acquisition and recordings at the Institute of Physics, Belgrade, Serbia, the AbsPAL system was used. Starting from LWPCv21 code (Ferguson, 1998), the variations of the Earth-ionosphere waveguide characteristic parameters, sharpness and reflection height, were estimated during the flare conditions. It was found that solar flare events affected the VLF wave propagation in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide by changing the lower ionosphere electron density height profile, in a different way, for different solar flare events.     

Definition of the lower hybrid frequency by active wave methods on the intercosmos-24 satellite and comparison of these data with mass-spectrometric measurements

The lower hybrid resonance (LHR) frequency estimated from the mass-spectrometer data is compared with measurements using spectrograms of VLF noise excited by both natural sources and through active wave stimulation of the surrounding plasma. The measurements are from the Intercosmos 24 satellite taken over a 2 year period from 1989–1991.     

VLF Emissions observed at the low latitude Indian station Varanasi

VLF emissions such as hiss, chorus, pulsing hiss, triggered emissions observed at Varanasi (geom. lat. = 14° 55′ N, long. = 153° 55′ E) are reported. An attempt has been made to explain the dynamic spectra in terms of the generation mechanism and propagation through the inhomogeneous magnetoplasma. It is noted that the reported events have propagated along different L-values in the magnetosphere, although they have been recorded at the same station. The ULF waves propagating along geomagnetic field lines modulate the growth rate of VLF waves, which results in the pulsation of VLF hiss intensity. The pulsating growth rate has been computed.     

卫星上的VLF发射装置在海面上产生的场

星载的VLF/ELF发射装置用于对潜通讯时,天线是位于400km高度的电离层F层中的垂直线天线。在天线理想化为一个电偶极子,电离层理想化为一个均匀锐边界各向异性等离子体模型下,分析讨论了VLF发射装置在海面上产生的场。      

Satellite launch vehicle effect on the Earth’s lower ionosphere: A case study

The effect of the rocket exhaust products on the D-region of the ionosphere is investigated with the help of Very low frequency (VLF) electromagnetic wave propagation characteristics within the Earth-ionosphere waveguide. The changes in the electron density profile are computed from the observed VLF signal amplitude perturbations about 3 dB during the rocket launch. We find a localized electron depletion in the lower ionosphere at an altitude of around 58 km, that is thought to be originated by the attachment of ionospheric ion and molecular hydrogen along with water molecule in the exhaust product of first stage burn of Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket at the time of GSLV launched from Sriharikota, India, on 27 August 2015 at 11:22 UT (16:52 IST). The ionospheric depletion perturbed the navigational VLF signal (VTX = 17 kHz) 134 s after the launch of the GSLV rocket.     

Simultaneous observations of some unusual whistlers and VLF hiss emission at a low L-value (L = 1.17)

The purpose of this paper is to describe some unusual whistlers (doublets and triplets) and VLF hiss emission recorded simultaneously on February 18, 1998 during nighttime at a low latitude Indian ground station Jammu (geomag. lat., 22° 26′ N; L = 1.17), and to make some discussions about their origin. The detailed structures of the observed VLF hiss emission clearly show that these emissions confined to a narrow continuous frequency band. Some times the frequency of hiss band oscillates and subsequently touches the upper edge of the first whistler component of the doublet. Detailed structures of the dynamic spectra of whistler and VLF hiss emission are briefly presented. From the dispersion analysis of the whistler doublets and triplets, it is found that the individual whistlers of the doublets and triplets simultaneously observed on the same day are one-hop whistlers having propagation path along higher and closely spaced L-values. Our result also shows that VLF hiss has been generated in the equatorial region of higher L-values. Generation and propagation mechanisms are briefly discussed.     

Study of long path VLF signal propagation characteristics as observed from Indian Antarctic station,Maitri

To examine the quality and propagation characteristics of the Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio waves in a very long propagation path, Indian Centre for Space Physics, Kolkata, participated in the 27th Indian scientific expedition to Antarctica during 2007–2008. One Stanford University made AWESOME VLF receiving system was installed at the Indian Antarctic station Maitri and about five weeks of data were recorded successfully from the Indian transmitter VTX and several other transmitting stations worldwide. The quality of the signal from the VTX transmitter was found to be very good, consistent and highly stable in day and night. The signal shows the evidences of the presence of the 24 h solar radiation in the Antarctic region during local summer. Here we report the both narrow band and broadband VLF observations from this site. The diurnal variations of VTX signal (18.2 kHz) are presented systematically for Antarctica path and also compared the same with the variations for a short propagation path (VTX-Kolkata). We compute the spatial distribution of the VTX signal along the VTX-Antarctica path using the most well-known LWPC model for an all-day and all-night propagation conditions. The calculated signal amplitudes corresponding to those conditions relatively corroborate the observations. We also present the attenuation rate of the dominant waveguide modes corresponding to those propagation conditions where the effects of the Antarctic polar ice on the attenuation of different propagating waveguide modes are visible.     

VLF波从大气层到低电离层的传输特性分析

基于传播矩阵法计算了均匀半空间电离层的反透射系数, 同时解Booker复系数四次方程得到电离层的复折射指数, 分别研究了电离层反射透射系数及折射指数随VLF频段入射电波频率、入射角和地磁倾角、电离层电子浓度及碰撞频率的变化规律. 计算结果表明, 在VLF频段, 垂直电偶极子辐射的横磁(Traverse Magnetic)波更易透射进入电离层, 而水平电偶极子辐射的横电(Traverse Electric) 波易被限制在地-电离层波导内来回反射. 电离层电子密度较低时 (如夜间), 在高纬度地区, 观测到地震电离层VLF异常的概率更大. 当考虑地磁场 的影响时, 电离层将允许地震辐射的超低频(Ultra Low Frequency ,ULF)/甚低频 (Very Low Frequency, VLF)部分的电磁波透射进入电离层, 这一点已有很多卫星观测事实为证, 但其进一步的物理机制尚需深入研究.      

半空间中机载甚低频双拖曳天线电磁辐射特性

对半空间中机载甚低频双拖曳天线电磁辐射特性进行了研究.基于有限元算法建立了机载甚低频双拖曳天线半空间全波仿真模型,利用边界条件模拟了海面半空间环境,深入分析了海面半空间环境对于机载甚低频双拖曳天线辐射特性的影响,通过调整机载甚低频双拖曳天线长短比,优化了机载甚低频双拖曳天线的输入阻抗、辐射效率等设计参数,该研究结果与美国海空军发展中心公布的数据吻合较好,验证了研究结论的有效性和可信性,对机载甚低频双拖曳天线的设计及应用具有参考意义.      

Observations of whistler-type echoes on signals of a ground VLF transmitter on board the ‘iterkosmos-19’ satellite

Signals of VLF transmitters of the Omega navigation system located in the auroral zone (66.4°N, 13.2°E, L= 5) were recorded by the VLF receiving equipment of the Interkosmos 19 satellite. Signals at frequencies between 10.2 and 13.6 kHz were received in a region above the transmitters, frequently with whistler-type echoes. An analysis of these echoes has shown their predominating occurrence in periods of low geomagnetic activity (Kp<2+). The occurrence region of these phenomena in the outer ionosphere has the dimension of about 1000 km and its position is betweenL= 2.5 and L= 4.4. The delay of echo-signals is practically the same during one satellite pass but its values for different satellite revolutions lie between 2.5 and 3.5 s. The frequency spectrum of these signals can be broadened up to 100 Hz. On the basis of calculations made, it can be shown that the experimental results are generally in accordance with the hypothesis of nonlinear ducting of VLF waves in the magnetosphere.     

新疆于田7.2 级地震前的电离层电磁扰动

利用法国DEMETER 卫星观测的电磁、等离子体等参量的观测数据分析了2008 年3 月21日新疆于田7.2 级地震前离子温度Ti、离子密度Ni、甚低频(VLF) 磁场等出现的异常变化. Ti分析显示震中区上空出现的突变信号在更大空间多次重复出现, 作为地震异常的信度不高. 通过多次重访轨道对比发现H+ 离子密度整体变化形态一致, 但夏秋季节的峰值变化幅度是冬春季节的1 倍. 通过把2008 年的数据与2007 年和2006 年同期的重访轨道数据进行对比, 发现2008 年在于田地震前1 个月左右Ni 在峰值区呈现了显著增强的变化趋势, 并一直持续到地震前, 2008 年2 月以后的峰值幅度是其他两年同期的~1 倍多. 对于磁场频谱数据, 抽取了震中区域上空2000 km 范围内多个轨道的单频(400 Hz)信息, 并在研究区域统一纬度空间(0~60°N) 进行了时间序列对比, 结果发现地震前2 日内震中区域上空400 Hz 谱密度增加了近一个数量级, 反映空间存在明显的VLF 电磁辐射现象. 对于3 月20 日极低频段(ELF) 三分量电磁场的矢量分析显示观测时段内存在一些左旋极化电磁信号, 反映了空间电离层离子密度变化伴随ELF 电磁辐射信息. 综合分析认为, 这次地震前各参量的变化过程与目前地震孕育及电离层耦合机理相吻合.