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Observations of solitary structures in a magnetized, plasma loaded waveguide.

A two-point boundary-value problem has been formulated that describes the conversion between ordinary (O) and extraordinary (X) wave modes in a cold inhomogeneous plasma. Numerical solutions to this problem have been obtained for various values of the WKB parameter k0L; where k0 is the vacuum wavenumber and L the density-gradient scale length. The results are compared with three different theoretical expressions for the O-X mode conversion efficiency derived by others in the WKB limit of k0 L ≫ l. Most of the results presented in this paper are obtained for a collisionless plasma with finite density near the plasma cut-off density. However, some examples are also given of wave propagation from vacuum. In these examples, collision effects are added to the equations in order to remove the singularity otherwise present at the position of the upper hybrid resonance layer.

A representation of a finite Larmor radius plasma is proposed, which permits the transition rL → ∞ without becoming mathematically ill-posed. It is being used in a two-dimensional guiding center plasma spectral code and may have useful analytical applications. The ions are represented as guiding centers and the Larmor radius is averaged analytically for every Fourier-mode. Finite Larmor radius densities and velocities are thus obtained from guiding center quantities by application of a filter in wave vector space.

The long-time evolution of monopolar and dipolar vortices influenced by the largescale gradient of the ambient potential vorticity (the /?-effect) is studied by direct numerical solutions of the equivalent barotropic quasi-geostrophic equation. Translation and reorganization of vortical structures are shown to depend strongly on their intensity. Transport of trapped fluid by vortical structures is illustrated by calculating particle trajectories and by considering closed isolines of potential vorticity and the streamfunction in a co-moving reference frame.The initial behaviour of strong monopoles is found to be well described by a recent approximate theory for the evolution of azimuthal mode one, even for times longer than the linear Rossby wave period. In the long-time limit, strong monopoles transport particles mainly westward, although the meridional displacement is several times larger than the initial vortex size. The appearance of an annulus with opposite radial gradient of the potential vorticity around the vortex core is demonstrated. This annulus forms owing to the meridional vortex drift on the ,!-plane and results in reorganization of a strong monopolar vortex into a rotating tripole. A critical value of the vortex intensity is found, below which the tripolar structure does not appear even in the case of an initially shielded vortex. Weak monopolar vortices are able to trap particles and provide some west-meridional fluid transport, even in the case when they decay like a linear Rossby wave packet.The evolution of initialfplane dipoles on the /?-plane is strongly dependent on the initial direction of propagation. Strong dipoles adjust to steadily propagating modon solutions either accelerating (westward case), decelerating (eastward case) or oscillating with a decaying amplitude (meridional case), thereby carrying trapped particles predominantly eastward. A steady state is not reached if the dipole intensity is below a critical value which depends on the initial direction of propagation. Weak dipoles either decay and shrink owing to Rossby wave radiation (westward case), gradually separate and split (eastward case), or disintegrate (meridional case) without longdistance fluid transport. Thus, on the /?-plane monopoles provide mainly westward transport of trapped fluid, whereas dipoles provide mainly eastward transport. Only strong monopoles are found to provide significant meridional fluid transport.