Airglow Depletion Zonal Velocities over Ascension Island

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[0310] Atmospheric Composition And Structure / Airglow And Aurora, [2415] Ionosphere / Equatorial Ionosphere, [2427] Ionosphere / Ionosphere/Atmosphere Interactions, [2439] Ionosphere / Ionospheric Irregularities

Scientific paper

We use 630 nm airglow image data from Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean (7.9°S, 14.4°W, dip latitude 16.0 °S) measured by Utah State University all-sky imager during March 20 to April 7, 1997 to analyze ionospheric F-region plasma depletion zonal velocity. Airglow depletions were observed during 7 out of 17 nights, due to limited observing conditions. The velocities were typically 100-125 m/s during pre-midnight, decreasing during post-midnight in good accord with previous observations from other near-equatorial sites. However, on April 4-5 the normal eastward depletion motion was observed to reverse direction reaching speed up to 20 m/s over a 1.5 hour period around local midnight. During this reversal an unusual strong shear was observed with westward motion in the region which mapped to low apex altitudes (about 500-700 km) and eastward motion at higher apex altitudes (about 700-1200 km), with difference in the shear velocity up to 45 m/s. The westward reversal of the plasma bubbles probably resulted from a reversal in the F-region dynamo, or from a large increase in the altitude of the shear in the nighttime F-region plasma drift. These results will be compared with other recent studies.

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