Articles | Volume 19, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-19-11-2001
© Author(s) 2001. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.Observation of isotropic electron temperature in the turbulent E region
Abstract. Using EISCAT radar data, we find that electrons are strongly heated in the magnetic field-line direction during high electric field events. The remote site data show that the electron temperature increases in almost the same way in the field-perpendicular direction; electron heating by E region plasma turbulence is isotropic. We discuss the implications of our observation for the "plasmon"-electron as well as the wave Joule heating models of the anomalous electron heating in the E region.
Key words. Ionosphere (auroral ionosphere; plasma temperature and density; plasma waves and instabilities)