TELEMETRY RADIO WAVE INTERACTIONS WITH THE ATMOSPHERIC PLASMA

Abstract Model calculations of telemetry radio wave induced perturbations of the atmospheric plasma are presented. The computed results show that P -band radio waves (255–390 MHz) and to a much lesser extent S-band radio waves (1.5–5.2 GHz) both commonly used onboard atmospheric probes for online data transmission may cause perturbations of the electrical and optical properties of the atmosphere in the vicinity of the probes. It is shown that S - and P -band radio waves interact most efficiently with the atmospheric plasma at middle stratospheric and lower mesospheric altitudes, respectively. The calculations presented here may also explain well the first unambigous detection of artificial telemetry radio wave ions produced around the stratopause by Pfeilsticker and Arnold (1987, J. atmos. terr. Phys. 49 , 11). Moreover, they reveal that several in situ measurements of various atmospheric electrical properties may have been affected by telemetry radio wave emissions of the payloads.