ELECTROSTATIC ROSSBY-TYPE ION PLASMA WAVES.

It is shown that a plasma in which the background magnetic field varies in a direction perpendicular to its line of action can support 'Rossby-type' electrostatic waves at frequencies very much less than the ion gyrofrequency. The interesting dispersive and anisotropic features of these waves are revealed by the properties of their wave operators and described in terms of the geometry of their wavenumber surfaces. Since these surfaces intersect, inhomogeneity or nonlinearity will give rise to strong mode-mode coupling in regions where the phases of both modes nearly match.