Identification of rocket‐induced acoustic waves in the ionosphere

Mabie, Justin; Bullett, T. W.; Moore, Prentiss; Vieira, Gerald J.

doi:10.1002/2016gl070820

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…More recently, Mabie et al. (2016) used an HF sounder to show that acoustic waves generated by a rocket launch at Wallops Island produced a detectable 0.03 Hz signal in the F layer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Acoustic Wave Signatures in the Ionosphere From Conventional Surface Explosions Using MF/HF Doppler Sounding

2022

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We present an experiment to detect one ton TNT‐equivalent chemical explosions using pulsed Doppler radar observations of isodensity layers in the ionospheric E region during two campaigns. The first campaign, conducted on 15 October 2019, produced potential detections of all three shots. The detections closely resemble the temporal and spectral properties predicted using the InfraGA ray tracing and weakly nonlinear waveform propagation model. Here the model predicts that within 6.5–7.25 min of each shot a waveform peaking between 0.9 and 0.4 Hz will impact the ionosphere at 100 km. As the waves pass through this region, they will imprint their signal on an isodensity layer, which is detectable using a Doppler radar operating at the plasma frequency of the isodensity. Within the time windows of each of the three shots in the first campaign, we detect enhanced wave activity peaking near 0.5 Hz. These waves were imprinted on the Doppler signal probing an isodensity layer at 2.785 MHz near 100 km altitude. Despite these detections, the method appears to be unreliable as none of the six shots from the second campaign, conducted on 10 July 2020 were detected. The observations from this campaign were characterized by an increased acoustic noise environment in the microbarom band and persistent scintillation on the radar returns. These effects obscured any detectable signal from these shots and the baseline noise was well above the detection levels of the first campaign.

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“…More recently, Mabie et al. (2016) used an HF sounder to show that acoustic waves generated by a rocket launch at Wallops Island produced a detectable 0.03 Hz signal in the F layer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Acoustic Wave Signatures in the Ionosphere From Conventional Surface Explosions Using MF/HF Doppler Sounding

2022

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“…Wave vectors have previously been used to determine ionospheric tilts and to geolocate echoes using ionospheric models (Zabotin et al, 2006) and drive wave vector propagation models (Mitchell et al, 2017). Wave vectors are computed using the techniques described by Mabie et al, 2016.…”

Section: Arrival Angle Of Vipir Echoesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Infrasonic waves are known to propagate in the thermosphere, but there have been a limited number of observations. These infrasonic waves in the thermosphere are referred to as High Altitude Acoustic Waves (HAAW; Mabie et al, ). We have made observations of HAAW with the Vertical Incidence Pulsed Ionospheric Radar (VIPIR) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) during five rocket launches by measuring ionospheric apparent plasma displacements caused by the HAAW.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Positive identification of HAAW is made based on the magnitude, time, and shape of apparent plasma displacements in the ionosphere (Mabie et al, ). Apparent plasma displacements computed by Doppler shift or changes in phase of the received ionospheric echoes (Bianchi & Altadill, ) are used to identify when the HAAW arrives at the fixed frequency plasma observation altitude, which is the altitude where the local plasma frequency is equal to the transmitted radio wave frequency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Infrasonic Wave‐Induced Variations of Ionospheric HF Sounding Echoes

Mabie

Bullett

2019

Radio Science

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We conducted ionospheric observations during several Orbital Corporation International Space Station Resupply missions from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at National Aeronautics and Space Administration Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. These observations were made under different ionospheric and thermospheric conditions using different variations of an experimental sounding mode of the Wallops Vertical Incidence Pulsed Ionospheric Radar. We present an analysis of variations in signal strength (fading), range (signal delay), and echo arrival angle as the rocket-generated High Altitude Acoustic Waves propagate in the thermosphere and through the plasma layers being observed. The results improve our understanding of the effects of infrasonic waves on remote sensing of the ionosphere and on radio wave propagation through the ionosphere and thermosphere.Plain Language Summary When large rockets are launched, they have been observed to generate infrasonic waves that propagate in the thermosphere (Mabie et al., 2016, https://doi.org/ 10.1002/2016GL070820). These High Altitude Acoustic Waves can be detected with high-frequency radio sounding techniques as changes in ionospheric plasma motion, radio echo power, and radio wave propagation direction. The presented results improve our understanding of how infrasonic waves in the thermosphere affect the ionosphere, radio remote sensing, and radio wave propagation.

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“…In addition to the SID detection based on the signals analysis in the time domain, the recorded data can be processed by appropriate techniques and further analyzed in the frequency domain in order to extract waves existing in the considered medium. These waves can be excited by natural [31,32] and artificial [33] events and, depending on their frequency and medium properties, they can be divided into several types like acoustic, gravity and planetary waves.…”

Section: Frequency Domain Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnostics of plasma in the ionospheric D-region: detection and study of different ionospheric disturbance types

2017

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Here we discuss our recent investigations of the ionospheric plasma by using very low and low frequency (VLF/LF) radio waves. We give a review of how to detect different low ionospheric reactions (sudden ionospheric disturbances) to various terrestrial and extra-terrestrial events, show their classification according to intensity and time duration, and present some methods for their detections in time and frequency domains. Investigations of detection in time domain are carried out for intensive long-lasting perturbations induced by solar X-ray flares and for short-lasting perturbations caused by gamma ray bursts. We also analyze time variations of signals used in the low ionospheric monitoring after earthquake events. In addition, we describe a procedure for the detection of acoustic and gravity waves from the VLF/LF signal analysis in frequency domain. The research of the low ionospheric plasma is based on data collected by the VLF/LF receivers located in Belgrade, Serbia.PACS. 52.25.Jm Ionization of plasmas -94.20.Bb Wave propagation -94.20.de D region -92.60.hh Acoustic gravity waves, tides, and compressional waves

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Identification of rocket‐induced acoustic waves in the ionosphere

Cited by 10 publications

References 25 publications

Identification of Acoustic Wave Signatures in the Ionosphere From Conventional Surface Explosions Using MF/HF Doppler Sounding

Identification of Acoustic Wave Signatures in the Ionosphere From Conventional Surface Explosions Using MF/HF Doppler Sounding

Infrasonic Wave‐Induced Variations of Ionospheric HF Sounding Echoes

Diagnostics of plasma in the ionospheric D-region: detection and study of different ionospheric disturbance types

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