Electrostatic effects in the coupling of upper atmospheric waves to ionospheric plasma

Neutral atmosphere waves cause ion motion by neutral‐ion collisions. If the ion motion leads to space charge perturbation, then the neutral‐plasma coupling must be calculated with a self‐consistent electrostatic field. We illustrate such self‐consistent solutions for a variety of examples involving both acoustic and acoustic gravity waves. We find that the electrostatic field introduces three phenomena. First, the plasma perturbation within the neutral disturbance differs from that which would be calculated without an electric field. Second, image plasma perturbations appear above the neutral disturbance. Third, image plasma perturbations appear in the conjugate ionosphere, at least for low L shells. We emphasize the latter two image effects.