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Notes on the diversity of the properties of radio bursts observed on the nightside of VenusWe report on further studies of radio wave bursts detected by the Orbiting Electric Field Detector (OEFD) on the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) in the nightside ionosphere of Venus. We have tested a total of 25 cases of wave burst activity for evidence of whistler-mode propagation to the spacecraft from impulsive subionospheric sources. As in a previous study of 11 of these cases (Sonwalkar et al., 1991) we find at least two distinct classes of events, one, mostly involving bursts at 100 Hz only, that passes certain tests for whistler-mode propagation, and another, mostly involving bursts in two or more of the four PVO narrowband channels (at 100 Hz, 730 Hz, 5.4 kHz, and 30 kHz), that fails to pass the tests. The subionospheric lightning hypothesis continues to be tenable as a candidate explanation for many of the 100 Hz-only events, but its number of 100 Hz-only cases that do no pass all the applicable whistler-mode tests, as well as the existence at a wide range of altitudes of multichannel cases that are clearly not propagating whistler-mode waves. The wideband bursts are often observed at altitudes above 1000 km and frequently occur in regions of locally reduced electron density. Those observed at high altitude (and possibly low altitude as well) are believed to be generated near the spacecraft, possibly by an as yet unknown mechanism responsible for similar burst observations made near Earth and other planets.
Document ID
19950054317
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Sonwalkar, Vikas S.
(Space, Telecommunications and Radioscience Laboratory, Stanford California, United States)
Carpenter, D. L.
(Space, Telecommunications and Radioscience Laboratory, Stanford California, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1995
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics
Volume: 57
Issue: 5
ISSN: 0021-9169
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
95A85916
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG2-520
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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