Comment on Blagoveshchenskaya et al. Artificial Ducts Created via High-Power HF Radio Waves at EISCAT. <i>Remote Sens.</i> 2023, <i>15</i>, 2300

Abstract

The claim that incoherent scatter radar data show electron density enhancements of 50–80% during some ionospheric heating experiments in a recent paper is questioned. The backscatter from the monostatic radar can indeed be enhanced during these experiments, but the conclusion that a large electron density increase is the cause is almost certainly wrong. Some natural plasma line data are presented in support of our claim. Previously published studies of similar events and a possible explanation for the observed increases in backscattered power are pointed out.

Keywords

• incoherent scatter radar
• electron density
• artificial field-aligned irregularities
• duct