Theory of short-scale field-aligned density striations due to ionospheric heating

The theoretical saturation spectrum of parametrically excited Langmuir waves in a locally uniform ionosphere is shown by the present calculations to produce, by ohmic dissipation, short-scale field-aligned density striations. The spectrum of the calculated striations is not inconsistent with observations of field-aligned scatter of VHF and UHF waves in ionospheric modification experiments if local increases of the pump field due to focusing are invoked.