Simulations of the Farley-Buneman Instability

Baseline Case

Click here to see a movie (325 Kb) of a simulation of the Farley-Buneman two-stream instability. The fundamental wave travels rightward while nonlinear waves travel upward on the crests and downward in the valleys.

Higher Electron Drift Velocity

Click here to see a movie (267 Kb) of the same simulation where the electron drift speed is forced 50% higher.

Linearized Electron Behavior

Click here to see a movie (542 Kb) of the same simulation where the electron behavior is linearized.

Lower Electron Drift Velocity - More Realistic Case for Equator

Click here to see a movie (484 Kb) of a lower resolution simulation where the driving electric field, E0, has been dropped to 15mv. This simulation is 4m long and 8m high.

For more information see the paper, Simulations of the Saturated Farley-Buneman Instability in the Ionosphere, published in Geophysical Research Letters by Meers Oppenheim, Niels Otani and Corrado Ronchi



This page is under development.
Meers Oppenheim (meers@ee.cornell.edu)