[1] We investigate the longitudinal distribution of the vertical E Â B drift velocity and ion density in the lowlatitude ionosphere using the first Republic of China Satellite (ROCSAT-1) data acquired during 1999 -2004. The ROCSAT-1 observations during daytime demonstrate the presence of the longitudinally periodic patterns of the vertical E Â B drift and plasma density on the topside F region (600 km). The four longitude sectors where the peaks in the plasma density are found are coincident with the peaks in the E Â B drift. This observation may indicate the association of the large-scale longitudinal density structure with the daytime E-region dynamo electric field. The density structure exists before the occurrence of the pre-reversal enhancement (PRE) and therefore the PRE is not directly related to this phenomenon. Citation:
During the night in the F region about the equator, plasma density depletions form, causing scintillation. In April 2008, the Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory was launched to predict ionospheric scintillation. Using its Planar Langmuir Probe (PLP), C/NOFS is capable of measuring in situ ion density within the F region over the equator. Plasma irregularities are found regularly during the night. We examine how these irregularities depend on longitude, latitude, and season. The most significant observations from this study are longitudinal structures in which these irregularities most frequently occur. Since similar structure has been found in diurnal tides, we conclude that lower atmospheric tides may play a strong role in determining the amplitude of equatorial irregularities, at least during low solar minimum conditions when the presented observations were made. We propose that this link is likely related to the generation of zonal electric fields by the E‐region dynamo.
We present and analyze sounding rocket and HILAT satellite measurements of the low frequency (< 1 Hz) electric and magnetic fields δE and δB perpendicular to the Earth's magnetic field B0 in the auroral oval. By examining the time‐domain field data it is often difficult to distinguish temporal fluctuations from static structures which are Doppler shifted to a non‐zero frequency in the spacecraft frame. However, we show that such a distinction can be made by constructing the impedance function Z(f) = μ0|δE(f)/δB(f)|. Using Z(f) we find agreement with the static field interpretation below about 0.1 Hz in the spacecraft frame, i.e. Z(f) = Σp−1 where Σp is the height‐integrated Pedersen conductivity of the ionosphere. Above 0.1 Hz we find Z(f) > Σp−1, which we argue to be due to the presence of Alfvén waves incident from the magnetosphere and reflecting from the lower ionosphere, forming a standing wave pattern. These waves may represent an electromagnetic coupling mechanism between the auroral acceleration region and the ionosphere.
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