Study of the Modification of the High-Latitude Ionosphere by the Ground-Based Ionospheric Heater at the Nighttime: A Simulation Approach

The purpose of this paper is to examine how high-power high-frequency radio waves, pumped into the high-latitude ionosphere, influence on the ionospheric plasma parameters. A mathematical model of the high-latitude ionosphere, developed earlier in the Polar Geophysical Institute, is utilized to calculate three-dimensional distributions of ionospheric parameters, modified by the action of the ground-based ionospheric heater which is located near Tromso, Scandinavia. The model takes into account the convection of the ionospheric plasma, strong magnetization of the plasma at F-layer altitudes, and geomagnetic field declination. The calculations were made for two cases. Firstly, we simulated the distributions of the ionospheric parameters under natural conditions without a powerful high-frequency wave effect. Secondly, the distributions of the ionospheric parameters were calculated on condition that the ionospheric heater has been operated, with the ionospheric heater being located on the night side of the Earth. The results of the numerical simulation indicate that artificial heating of the ionosphere by powerful high-frequency waves ought to influence noticeably on the spatial structure of the nighttime high-latitude F-region ionosphere in the vicinity of the ionospheric heater.