Fig. 6
From: Ionospheric disturbance caused by artificial plasma clouds under different release conditions
The density distribution of Ba+ clouds in the x–z plane (at t = 60 s) after 10 kg Ba release at 220 km, with initial ionization rates (σ) of 0%, 20% and 80% (a, b, c), the maximum density of the Ba+ cloud changes with time (d), and the vertical diameter of the generated plasma cloud changes with time (e). Note that the location where the barium ion number density is 1/e of the peak density is defined as the plasma cloud boundary, and the vertical diameter of the ionosphere hole is determined accordingly