Tr. Robinson et al., FAST observations of ULF waves injected into the magnetosphere by means ofmodulated RF heating of the auroral electrojet, GEOPHYS R L, 27(19), 2000, pp. 3165-3168
Results are reported from an experiment in which the HF high power facility
at Tromso was utilised to inject artificial ULF waves into the magnetosphe
re by means of modulated heating of the auroral electrojet. Local electric
field oscillations associated with the artificially stimulated ULF waves we
re detected on board the FAST spacecraft, at an altitude of 2550 km. In add
ition, a modulated downward flux of electrons was also detected. The artifi
cially excited waves: together with these energised downward electrons, wer
e observed in a narrow region only a few tens of km across the geomagnetic
field, which mapped down the geomagnetic field line to the heated volume in
the ionosphere. Furthermore, the downward flux exhibited energy dispersion
in a manner that was consistent with the artificially excited waves having
followed the geomagnetic field line out beyond the spacecraft? where they
appear to have stimulated electron precipitation back down the field line.