Ionosphere plasma electron parameters from radio frequency sweeping impedance probe measurements

In this work we will describe the technique of using an RF sweeping impedance probe (SIP) to measure the AC impedance of an electrically short monopole immersed in a plasma. We analyze the SIP measurements which are taken from the payload of the Storms sounding rocket, launched from Wallops Island, Virginia, in 2007. The scientific objective of the Storms mission was to concentrate on whether density irregularities observed in midlatitude spread F could arise from ionospheric coupling to terrestrial weather. As such, independent measurements of the electron density profile are crucial. Since the inherent nature of the SIP technique makes it relatively insensitive to errors introduced through spacecraft charging, probe contamination, and other DC effects, it is an ideal instrument to employ under disturbed plasma conditions. The instrument measures both the magnitude and phase of the AC impedance from 100 kHz to 20 MHz in 128 frequency steps, performing 45,776 sweeps over the entire flight. From these measurements we infer both the absolute electron density ne and the electron neutral collision frequencies νen throughout the flight trajectory. The SIP data can be approximately analyzed using a fluid formulation and thin sheath approximation particularly at altitudes below 200 km, which allows us to match the measurements to quasi-static analytical formulas. At about 265 km on the upleg, the magnitude data transitioned to a highly damped response with increasing altitude. The phase data, on the other hand, continued to indicate increased plasma density and reduced collisionality as expected. For a large portion of the flight, the payload of the Storms mission exhibited an uncontrolled coning motion, making the local magnetic field orientation with respect to the dipole difficult to decipher. Despite these difficulties, we were able to obtain robust estimates of the electron density profile, using the phase information from each sweep. In addition, the electron neutral collision frequency obtained from matching to phase data alone was on the correct order of magnitude with respect to Naval Research Laboratory Mass Spectrometer Incoherent Scatter-Extended model values in the ionosphere between 100 km and 150 km.