Large amplitude wave packets observed in the ionosphere in association with transverse ion acceleration

Very short duration, large amplitude bursts of monochromatic waves ('spikelets') were detected by the electric field experiment on the sounding rocket MARIE, launched in February 1985 from Churchill, Manitoba. About 35 events were detected, with an average time scale of 5 ms and an average amplitude of 100-150 mV/m. Their frequency varied between 7 and 18 kHz, and there is some evidence that the frequency is a decreasing function of altitude. The bursts are not correlated with any events on the payload, and their occurrence is not related to the rocket's spin or coning. The events were confined to the altitude range 450-650 kilometers. This coincides exactly with the altitude range for which perpendicular (90 deg) ion conics were detected by the particle experiment on the same payload. The 'spikelets' were also correlated one-to-one with small (10-100 mV/m) double-layerlike or shocklike features of similar time scale in the dc electric field data.