Superrotation of the Ionosphere and Quiet Time Zonal Ion Drifts at Low and Middle Latitudes Observed by ROCSAT-1

Details Superrotation of the Ionosphere and Quiet Time Zonal Ion Drifts at Low and Middle Latitudes Observed by ROCSAT-1 Superrotation of the Ionosphere and Quiet Time Zonal Ion Drifts at Low and Middle Latitudes Observed by ROCSAT-1

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsa23a1887p&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SA23A-1887

Physics

[2415] Ionosphere / Equatorial Ionosphere, [2443] Ionosphere / Midlatitude Ionosphere

Scientific paper

This study provides, for the first time, a global description of the superrotation of the ionosphere at different longitudes and seasons. It also presents the local time, latitudinal, longitudinal, and seasonal variations of the zonal ion drifts at low and middle latitudes during quiet times. We use ion drift measurements from the ROCSAT-1 satellite near solar maximum for the years 1999-2003. Our study investigates the zonal drifts in the topside ionosphere at altitudes near 600 km and within the magnetic latitude range of ±25 degrees. We select a quiet time period defined when Dst>-100nT and Kp≤3. Superrotation of the ionosphere is observed in the zonal ion drift measurements, particularly at the lower latitudes. The ionospheric superrotation generally decreases with increasing latitude and is attributed mainly to the F-region dynamo where the features of the neutral wind and conductance affect the characteristics of the superrotation at different latitudes, longitudes and seasons. We suggest that the decrease in latitude of the neutral winds in the F region is the main source of the latitudinal variation of the superrotation. The longitudinal and seasonal variations of the superrotation are more influenced by changes in the F-region conductance that is modified by vertical E×B ion drift motions and neutral ion drift motions along magnetic field lines.

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