Experimental tests of the generation mechanism of auroral medium frequency burst radio emissions

Medium frequency (MF) burst is an impulsive auroral radio emission at 1.3-4.5 MHz commonly detected by ground-based instruments for a few minutes at substorm onsets. It is thought to arise from mode conversion radiation. The Dartmouth College MF radio interferometer at Toolik Field Station, Alaska (68.51 degrees invariant latitude), measured spectra, amplitudes, and directions of arrival (DOA) of 47 MF burst events during 2006 2007 and 49 events during 2007-2008. Statistical analysis of these events shows that they come predominantly from the south and east of Toolik, as expected because propagation conditions are more favorable poleward and westward of the active auroral arcs than equatorward or eastward during premidnight (westward moving) substorm onset activity. Case studies of a selected MF burst event on 20 November 2007 show that motions of the radio emissions qualitatively track the motions of auroral arcs simultaneously observed with all-sky camera. Case studies of DOA data of selected MF burst events on 31 January and 20 November 2007 show that higher-frequency components of MF burst arrive at higher elevation angles than lower-frequency components. Statistical studies confirm this trend. Ray-tracing analysis shows that this trend implies that sources of the higher-frequency components of the MF burst are at higher altitudes than those of the lower-frequency components. The analysis also shows that the MF burst comes from the bottomside F region ionosphere. These observations are consistent with a mechanism of MF burst emission whereby the emissions originate from mode conversion of Langmuir or upper hybrid waves excited over a range of altitudes in the bottomside F region.