Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of Geophysical Research

Issue

84

Publication Date

1-1-1979

First Page

1989

Last Page

1904

Abstract

An active experiment has been conducted in space that allows a test for the theory of nonlinear development of striations in large barium clouds. The results are in excellent agreement with a computer simulation of the ExB instability reported by Scannapiecoe t al. (1976). The power law irregularity spectrum predicted by the theory and verified by the experiment is shown here to be due to wave steepeninga nd not_top lasmat urbulence.T he barium cloud resultsa re remarkably similar to bottomside equatorial spread F. A possible role of the E x B instability in bottomside equatorial spread F is discussed as a supplement to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability during the postsunset rise of the F layer and during anomalousp lasma uplifts which occur during geomagneticallya ctive periods

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