The ionosphere can be affected (modified) by a variety of disturbances. Natural sources include, for example, severe weather, earthquakes, and volcanoes; these create mechanical disturbances (waves) in the neutral atmosphere which propagate to the ionosphere where they couple into the ionized gas. Anthropogenic disturbances include, for example, high explosives, nuclear explosions, heating by electromagnetic waves, and intentional and unintentional seeding of the ionosphere with chemicals.

Inspec keywords: ionospheric disturbances; radiocommunication; ionospheric electromagnetic wave propagation; radiowave propagation; D-region; plasma heating; E-region; astrophysical plasma; F-region

Other keywords: D-region heating; chemical modification; explosion disturbances; E-region heating; natural ionospheric modifications; ionospheric disturbances; communication aspects; anthropogenic disturbances; mechanical disturbances; F-region heating

Subjects: Ionospheric disturbances and modification experiments