Simultaneous measurements of variations in the artificial airglow and the total electron content of the ionosphere caused by powerful radio waves of “Sura” facility

The results of simultaneous observations of variations in the artificial airglow in the red line of the optical spectrum of atomic oxygen (630 nm) and the total electron content (TEC) of the ionosphere measured along the propagation paths of the navigation satellites signal caused by the powerful HF radio emission of “Sura” facility on March 12, 2013 have been described in this paper. The observations of the disturbed region structure have allowed a comparison of the position of large-scale inhomogeneities of the electron density and the areas of artificial airglow generation.
For comparison of variations in TEC and the artificial airglow, the following steps have been performed:
$\bullet$ Removing the regular trend brought by satellite motion from the time dependence of TEC;
$\bullet$ Spatial reference and timing of the night sky portraits received by a CCD camera and drawing of the satellite trajectory on these images;
$\bullet$ Enhancement of the spots of artificial airglow on the portraits of the night sky;
$\bullet$ Calculation of the average intensity of airglow from the image area ($11\times11$ pixels) corresponding to the location of the satellite in time of the night sky shooting.
Based on the joint analysis of the data, it has been found that the TEC level is decreased for 60 % and the intensity of airglow in the red line of the optical spectrum of atomic oxygen is increased for 35 % when the pumping wave is turned on. Furthermore, it has been shown that the strongest plasma waves accelerating electrons to the excitation potential of optical levels are generated in the region of low electron concentration as the antenna pattern of "Sura" facility is inclined at an angle of $12^\circ$ to the magnetic zenith. These results will allow applying the corrections to the description of the electron acceleration mechanism up to the levels of optical excitation of atomic oxygen.