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Onishchenko et al. 2004
Onishchenko, O.G., Pokhotelov, O.A., Sagdeev, R.Z., Stenflo, L., Treumann, R.A. and Balikhin, M.A. (2004). Generation of convective cells by kinetic Alfvén waves in the upper ionosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research 109: doi: 10.1029/2003JA010248. issn: 0148-0227.

We consider the nonlinear interaction of finite amplitude kinetic Alfv¿n waves (KAW) with parametrically excited convective motions in the Earth's upper ionosphere, accounting for nonzero ion-Larmor radius effects. The generation of the convective cells is due to the Reynolds stresses of the Alfv¿n waves. These stresses are nonzero only when the perpendicular wavelengths of the kinetic Alfv¿n waves are of the order of the ion-Larmor radius. It is found that the wave vector of the fastest growing convective mode is perpendicular to that of the pump KAW. The instability growth rate is compared with those of other channels for the parametric decay of KAWs. Applications to satellite observations of KAWs in the auroral ionosphere are proposed, suggesting that convective cells produced by the parametric instability of KAWs can contribute to the turbulence in the plasma of the upper ionosphere.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Space Plasma Physics, Nonlinear phenomena, Space Plasma Physics, Wave/wave interactions, Space Plasma Physics, Turbulence, Magnetospheric Physics, Plasma waves and instabilities, Space Plasma Physics, Electrostatic structures, parametric instability of kinetic Alfvén waves, convective cell generation, convection vortices, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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