Magnetohydrodynamic Wave Propagation in the Ionosphere

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Abstract
The propagation of magnetohydrodynamic waves in a compressible fluid is discussed with reference to the ionosphere. An investigation of the damping for a gas of finite conductivity shows that different wave modes may be heavily attenuated in certain directions of propagation. Also, the slow wave of the magneto-acoustic mode is shown to exhibit preferentially less damping for propagation along the magnetic field lines. An examination of the Hall and electron pressure terms shows that they may be neglected for low enough wave frequencies. The coupling of electromagnetic to magneto-hydrodynamic waves at a plasma-vacuum boundary is considered. The coupling coefficient is estimated to be one percent.