ELF/VLF Perturbations Above the Haarp Transmitter Recorded by the Demeter Satellite in the Upper Ionosphere

In the studies of the data received from DEMETER (orbit altitude above the Earth is about 700 km), we detected for the first time electromagnetic perturbations, which are due to the ionospheric modification by HAARP, a high-power high-frequency transmitter, simultaneously in the extremely low-frequency (ELF, below 1200 Hz) and very low-frequency (VLF, below 20 kHz) ranges. Of the thirteen analyzed flybys of the satellite above the heated area, the ELF/VLF signals were detected in three cases in the daytime (LT = 11–12 h), when the minimum distance between the geomagnetic projections of the satellite and the heated area center on the Earth’s surface did not exceed 31 km. During the nighttime flybys, the ELF/VLF perturbations were not detected. The size of the perturbed region was about 100 km. The amplitude, spectrum, and polarization of the ELF perturbations were analyzed, and their comparison with the characteristics of natural ELF noise above the HAARP transmitter was performed. In particular, it was shown that in the daytime the ELF perturbation amplitude above the heated area can exceed by a factor of 3 to 8 the amplitude of natural ELF noise. The absence of the nighttime records of artificial ELF/VLF perturbations above the heated area can be due to both the lower frequency of the heating signal, at which the heating occurs in the lower ionosphere, and the higher level of natural noise. The spectrum of the VLF signals related to the HAARP transmitter operation had two peaks at frequencies of 8 to 10 kHz and 15 to 18 kHz, which are close to the first and second harmonics of the lower-hybrid resonance in the heated area. The effect of the whistler wave propagation near the lower-hybrid resonance region on the perturbation spectrum recorded in the upper ionosphere for these signals has been demonstrated. In particular, some of the spectrum features can be explained by assuming that the VLF signals propagate in quasiresonance, rather than quasilongitudinal, regime. It is noted that the profile and dynamics of the ELF perturbation frequency spectrum conform to the assumption of their connection with quasistatic small-scale electron-density inhomogeneities occurring in the heated region and having lifetimes of a few seconds or more. The possible mechanisms of the ELF/VLF perturbation formation in the ionospheric plasma above the high-latitude HAARP facility at the DEMETER flyby altitudes are discussed.