[1] Long-term variability of f o F 2 at Ouagadougou station (12.4°N, 358.5°E; dip, 1.45°), a West African equatorial station, is studied, analyzing an annual mean data series at 12 LT for the period 1966-1998. After filtering the solar activity effect using Rz as a solar activity proxy, a downward trend of À0.015 MHz/yr is obtained, that is a~5% decrease during the period of 33 years here considered, equivalent to a~0.2%/yr. The downward trend is qualitatively consistent with a decreasing trend expected from increasing greenhouse gas concentration but greater than the~0.003%/yr that would result from the 20% increase in CO 2 that actually took place during the period of analysis. The f o F 2 decreasing trend is not in agreement with the trend expected from the secular variation of the dip angle at the location of Ouagadougou, but here an additional mechanism is considered, that is the secular movement of the dip equator toward Ouagadougou. This implies an approaching of the trough of the equatorial ionization anomaly and thus an f o F 2 decrease at Ouagadougou that is qualitatively in agreement with the observed trend.Citation: Gnabahou, D. A., A. G. Elias, and F. Ouattara (2013), Long-term trend of f o F 2 at a West African equatorial station linked to greenhouse gas increase and dip equator secular displacement,

The coronal mass ejections (CMEs) produce by Sun poloidal magnetic fields contribute to geomagnetic storms. The geomagnetic storm effects produced by one-day-shock, two-days-shock and three-days-shock activities on Ouagadougou station F2 layer critical frequency time variation are analyzed. It is found that during the solar minimum and the increasing phases, the shock activity produces both positive and negative storms. The positive storm is observed during daytime. At the solar maximum and the decreasing phases only the positive storm is produced. At the solar minimum there is no three-days-shock activity. During the solar increasing phase the highest amplitude of the storm effect is due to the one-day-shock activity and the lowest is produced by the two-days-shock activity. At the solar maximum phase the ionosphere electric current system is not affected by the shock activity. Nevertheless, the highest amplitude of the storm effect is caused by the two-days-shock activity and the lowest by the one-day-shock activity. During the solar decreasing phase, the highest amplitude provoked by the storm is due to the three-days-shock activity and the lowest by the one-day-shock activity.

We analyse the variability of foF2 at two West Africa equatorial ionization anomaly stations (Ouagadougou and Dakar) during three solar cycles (from cycle 20 to cycle 22), that is, from 1966 to 1998 for Ouagadougou and from 1971 to 1997 for Dakar. We examine the effect of the changing levels of solar extreme ultraviolet radiation with sunspot number. The study shows high correlation between foF2 and sunspot number (Rz). The correlation coefficient decreases from cycle 20 to cycle 21 at both stations. From cycle 21 to cycle 22 it decreases at Ouagadougou station and increases at Dakar station. The best correlation coefficient, 0.990, is obtained for Dakar station during solar cycle 22. The seasonal variation displays equinoctial peaks that are asymmetric between March and September. The percentage deviations of monthly average data from one solar cycle to another display variability with respect to solar cycle phase and show solar ultraviolet radiation variability with solar cycle phase. The diurnal variation shows a noon bite out with a predominant late-afternoon peak except during the maximum phase of the solar cycle. The diurnal Ouagadougou station foF2 data do not show a significant difference between the increasing and decreasing cycle phases, while Dakar station data do show it, particularly for cycle 21. The percentage deviations of diurnal variations from solar-minimum conditions show more ionosphere during solar cycle 21 at both stations for all three of the other phases of the solar cycle. There is no significant variability of ionosphere during increasing and decreasing solar cycle phases at Ouagadougou station, but at Dakar station there is a significant variability of ionosphere during these two solar-cycle phases.

The paper goal is to analyze the variability of foF2 at African equatorial stations and the effect of dip angle on this variability. The gap between the dip angle of Dakar and Ouagadougou is superior to that between Djibouti and Ouagadougou. The trend of the dip angle at Ouagadougou and Dakar decreases while that of Djibouti increases. The relative position of the station with respect to the equator and the trend sign explains the difference observed in foF2 variability at Dakar station and at the two other stations. At Djibouti and Ouagadougou, foF2 exhibits noon bite out profile during all solar cycle phases while at Dakar observed profile is dome or plateau during the maximum and the predominance afternoon peak for the other solar cycle phases.

foF2 seasonal asymmetry is investigated at Korhogo station from 1992 to 2002. We show that equinoctial asymmetry is less pronounced and somwhere is absent trough out solar cycle phase. In general, the absence of equinoctial asymmetry may be due to the fact that in equinox and for each solar cycle phase, the asymmetry is due to Russell-McPherron mechanism. The solstice anomaly or annual anomaly is always observed throughout solar cycle phase. The minimum value of ΔfoF2 is inferior than −60% seen during all solar cycle phase at 0700 LT. This annual asymmetry may be due to interplanetary corpuscular radiation.