Since 1980, we have observed the thermospheric neutral wind at the Arecibo Observatory using a Fabry‐Perot interferometer to measure the O(1D) 630 nm emission. Burnside and Tepley (1989) examined the first 8 years of this extended data set and found that there were no significant or systematic solar cycle influences on the magnitude or direction of the neutral wind field, nor on its horizontal gradients. Such affects have been observed previously at other locations around the globe, and their absence at Arecibo may have been due to the limited data set. Thus, we have extended the period of acquisition and analysis of our neutral wind measurements to include nearly three complete solar cycles (or approximately 30 years) and will present our results within the framework of the earlier work. While the earlier conclusion that no major systematic solar cycle influence on the neutral winds at Arecibo generally remains intact, we did find a slight increase in wind magnitude and a gradual, yet consistent rotation of the thermospheric neutral wind vector from a general southeast to a more eastward flow during 30 years of observation. We explain the magnitude and directional variations in terms of long‐term changes in the density and temperature of the upper atmosphere and their possible dissimilar influences on each wind component that appear as a rotation of the neutral wind vector.

[1] Thermospheric neutral winds can be the most important driver when modeling ionospheric densities and temperatures. Several papers in this special edition show interesting features of the neutral winds behavior during the last 30 years at the Arecibo Observatory (18.3°N, 66.75°W; ∼28.25°dip latitude) using Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI) data. A neutral wind vector that changes its direction, becoming more dominantly eastward over the years and a meridional neutral wind component that decreases in magnitude, were found. The main goal of this work is to look for similar evidence of long-term trends in the radar derived winds that might support these recent discoveries and explore the associated ionospheric parameter measurements to look for the effects of these changing winds on the ionosphere. With this purpose in mind, Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) measurements of the F region vector drifts are used to derive the corresponding meridional thermospheric neutral wind along the magnetic field over Arecibo during 20 years. Major findings include a decreasing long-term trend (lowering) of the height where the F2-layer peak density occurs (hmF2), which could be related with a more increased downward flux of the ionosphere. A slight decrease in the peak density of the F2-layer (NmF2) after local midnight also was found during the period studied. The meridional wind along the magnetic field derived from ISR data also revealed a long-term trend, becoming more northward during the period studied, with a maximum variation between 02:30UT and 05:30UT.Citation: Santos, P. T., C. G. M. Brum, C. A. Tepley, N. Aponte, S. A. González, and E. Robles (2011), Using incoherent scatter radar to investigate the neutral wind long-term trend over Arecibo,