Nonlinear Plasma Effects in Natural and Artificial Aurora

This report describes common features of natural ('Enhanced') aurora and 'artificial aurora'(AA) created by electron beams injected from sounding rockets. These features cannot be explained solely by col-lisional degradation of energetic electrons, thereby pointing to collisionless plasma effects. The fundamental role in electron beam-ionosphere interactions belongs to Langmuir turbulence. Its development in the (weakly-ionized) ionosphere is significantly affected by electron-neutral collisions, so that the heating and acceleration of plasma electrons proceed more efficiently than in collisionless plasmas. As a result, a narrow layer of enhanced auroral glow/ionization is formed above the standard collisional peak.