%0 Journal Article %@ 0094-8276 %A Balikhin, M %A Walker, S %A Treumann, R %A Alleyne, H %A Krasnoselskikh, V %A Gedalin, M %A Andre, M %A Dunlop, M %A Fazakerley, A %D 2005 %F discovery:162799 %I American Geophysical Union %J Geophysical Research Letters %N 24 %T Ion sound wave packets at the quasiperpendicular shock front %U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/162799/ %V 32 %X Electric field measurements from a single spacecraft have been used to study ion-sound turbulence observed within the Earth's bow shock. The observed frequency of the ion-sound waves can be both lower and higher than the local electron cyclotron frequency depending upon the direction of wave propagation in the plasma rest frame. The ion-sound waves observed upstream of the ramp can not be generated either by an instability related to the gradient in the electron temperature or an electric current within the ramp. A comparison of wave vectors for distinctive wave packets indicate that non-stationary, short scale current layers formed in the processes of the ramp evolution might be the source of the free energy for such waves. %Z Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union