[P-EM15] Study of coupling processes in solar-terrestrial system

[PEM15-15] D-region ion line: the influence of charged dust on incoherent scatter

*Ingrid Brigitte Mann¹, Tinna Lif Gunnarsdottir¹, Devin R. Huyghebaert¹, Isabel M. Nerland¹, Wuhu Feng², John M.C. Plane², Yasunobu Ogawa³, Ingemar Haeggstroem⁴, Satonori Nozawa⁵, Norihito Saito⁵, Takuya D. Kawahara⁵, Neethal Thomas⁶ (1.Dept. of Physics and Technology, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, 2.University of Leeds, UK, 3.Japan National Polar Research Institute, 4.EISCAT Scientific Association, Kiruna, Sweden, 5.ISEE, Nagoya University, Japan, 6.SGO, University of Oulu, Finland)

Keywords:D-region ionosphere, Mesosphere, Meteoric Smoke, Incoherent Scatter

The influence of the charged dust on incoherent scatter may be found in the ion line measured in the D-region. From model calculations we have found that the best conditions to recognize the influence from the dust component is in winter during conditions with high electron density. In a case study we investigate the spectrum measured with the EISCAT VHF in January during conditions with high electron content. The dust reference is based on a global circulation model calculation. While we can see the possible influence of charged dust particles in the innermost part of the ion line spectrum, ion - neutral collisions also play a role and we could not fit the spectrum with the typical ion collision parameters. In addition, the analysis requires independent temperature information. We discuss implications for future D-region studies using EISCAT_3D.