title: Observation of radio-wave-induced red hydroxyl emission at low altitude in the ionosphere.
abstract: We report the discovery of radio-wave-induced red emission of OH Meinel rotation-vibrational bands at 629.79 nm. These are the first measurements of artificial aurora below 100 km. We believe that the 629.79-nm OH emission was due to radio-wave focusing by sporadic ionization clouds near 80-85 km altitude, thus giving a technique to visualize the low-altitude sporadic ionization and providing insight into ionospheric interactions at these low altitudes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Kagan
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Nicolls
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kelley
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Belikovich
authors.forename: N V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Bakhmet'eva
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Komrakov
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Trondsen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Donovan