Singular value decomposition methods for wave propagation analysis

O. Santolík (1) , Michel Parrot (2) , François Lefeuvre (2)

1 IAP - Institute of Atmospheric Physics [Prague]
2 LPCE - Laboratoire de physique et chimie de l'environnement

We describe several newly developed methods for propagation analysis of electromagnetic plasma waves. We make use of singular value decomposition (SVD) technique and we determine the wave vector direction, ellipticity and directions of axes of the polarization ellipse, wave refractive index, transfer function of electric antennas, estimators of the planarity of polarization, and electromagnetic planarity. Simulations of Z-mode waves, which simultaneously propagate with different wave vectors, indicate that the SVD methods give reasonable results even if the assumption on the presence of a single plane wave is invalid. Simulations of whistler mode waves show that these methods can be used to recognize cases when the waves simultaneously propagate with wave vectors in two opposite hemispheres. Finally, we show an example of analysis of natural whistler mode and Z-mode emissions measured in the high-altitude auroral region by the MEMO experiment onboard the INTERBALL spacecraft.

Keywords: wave propagation; singular value decomposition

Domains: Signal and Image processing; Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]

O. Santolík, Michel Parrot, François Lefeuvre. Singular value decomposition methods for wave propagation analysis. Radio Science, 2003, 38 (1), pp.1010. ⟨10.1029/2000RS002523⟩. ⟨insu-02612276⟩