Articles | Volume 26, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-26-1897-2008
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-26-1897-2008
14 Jul 2008
 | 14 Jul 2008

D region HF radar echoes associated with energetic particle precipitation and pulsating aurora

S. E. Milan, K. Hosokawa, M. Lester, N. Sato, H. Yamagishi, and F. Honary

Abstract. Milan et al. (2001) identified a class of narrow, slow-moving HF radar backscatter echoes which originate between altitudes of 80 and 100 km, the ionospheric D- and lower E-regions. These echoes appeared to be associated with the occurrence of pulsating aurora, which are known to be created by energetic electrons capable of penetrating to D region altitudes. In this study we show that these echoes are observed in tandem with enhancements in cosmic noise absorption (auroral absorption), additional evidence that energetic (>30 keV) particle precipitation is responsible for generating the irregularities from which a radar can scatter. In addition, we show that the D region backscatter echoes occur predominantly in the post-midnight sector during substorm recovery phase, in common with auroral absorption events and pulsating aurora.