Statistical analysis of VLF radio emissions triggered by power line harmonic radiation and observed by the low-altitude satellite DEMETER

Michel Parrot (1) , František Nĕmec (2) , Ondřej Santolík (3, 2)

1 LPC2E - Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace
2 Faculty of Mathematics and Physics [Praha/Prague]
3 IAP - Institute of Atmospheric Physics [Prague]

DEMETER was a low-altitude satellite in operation between 2004 and 2010 in a circular polar orbit. One of its main scientific objectives was to study ionospheric perturbations related to man-made activity. This paper investigates electromagnetic emissions triggered by Power Line Harmonic Radiation (PLHR), the man-made waves emitted at harmonics of 50 or 60 Hz. They look like rising tones or hooks with a starting frequency associated to a parent line with the frequency equal to a multiple of 50 or 60 Hz. They occur preferentially during daytime in a frequency band between 1 and 4 kHz. It is shown that these emissions are rather frequent at high latitudes (3 < L <6) above industrialized areas during periods of moderate magnetic activity. Their average intensity is of the order of 10 μV 2 m À2 Hz À1. PLHR propagates in the magnetosphere and triggers emissions due to wave-particle interactions in the equatorial region.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Michel Parrot, František Nĕmec, Ondřej Santolík. Statistical analysis of VLF radio emissions triggered by power line harmonic radiation and observed by the low-altitude satellite DEMETER. Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics, 2014, 119, pp.5744-5754. ⟨10.1002/2014JA020139⟩. ⟨insu-01174151⟩