Electromagnetic inertio-gravity waves in the Earth's ionosphere

Propagation of electromagnetic inertio-gravity (IC) waves in the partially ionized ionospheric E- and F-layers is considered in the shallow water approximation. Accounting of the field-aligned current is the main novelty of the investigation. Existence of two new eigen-frequencies for fast and slow electromagnetic waves is revealed in the ionospheric E-layer. It is shown that in E-layer slowly damping new type of inertial-fast magnetosonic waves can propagate. Slowly damping low-frequency oscillations connected with the field-aligned conductivity are found. Broad spectrum of oscillations is investigated. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.