Reply to comment by R. L. Lysak on "Improved basis set for low frequency plasma waves"

In a Comment, R. L. Lysak argues against the validity of Bellan (2012) on the grounds that this paper uses fluid rather than kinetic theory. The Comment invokes a commonly used method for reducing the 3×3 wave equation matrix to a 2×2 matrix which then gives approximate dispersion relations. In this Response, it is shown that the same 3×3 wave equation matrix can be obtained from fluid theory and certain mathematical inconsistencies in the method of analysis used in the Comment are identified. It is shown that the dispersion relation derived in Bellan (2012) provides a much better description of the experimental observations reported by Kletzing et al. (2003) than does the dispersion relation proposed in the Comment and in Lysak and Lotko (1996).