Altitude distribution of HF-pump enhanced emissions at 6300 and 5577 Å – a comparison between observations and theory

Gustavsson, B.¹, Bristow, B.², Heinselman, C.³, Hughes, J.⁴, Kosch, M.⁵, Mutiso, C.⁴, Nielsen, K.⁶, Pedersen, T.⁷, Wang, W.⁶ and Wong, A.⁶

¹ Department of Physics and Technology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway
² Geophysical Institute University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA
³ SRI International, Menlo Park California, USA
⁴ Physical Sciences, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, USA
⁵ Communication Systems, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
⁶ HIPAS Observatory, Fairbanks, USA
⁷ Space Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Hanscom AFB Massachusetts, USA

We present bi-static observations of radio-wave induced optical emissions at 6300 and 5577 Å from the night-time “artificial aurora” ionospheric pumping experiments at the HIPAS (Fairbanks) facility in Alaska. The optical observations were made at HIPAS and from HAARP located 285 km away. From these observations the altitude distribution of the emissions is estimated with tomography-like methods. These estimates are compared with theoretical models. Other diagnostics used to support the theoretical calculations include the Kodiak HF SuperDARN radar, which scans over HIPAS, and the new Poker Flat AMISR UHF radar near HIPAS.