A semi-analytic method for studying plasma properties near the F2-peak of the low latitude ionosphere

Analytic expressions connecting three plasma parameters have been derived. The parameters are hm (the height of the F2-peak), Nm (the peak density), and Ym (the radius of curvature of the vertical profile at hm). Although both Nm and total electron content (TEC) exhibit the equatorial anomaly in response to the fountain effect, TEC does not show a noontime bite-out whereas Nm does. Moreover, it is predicted that the response of TEC towards the fountain effect is weaker than that of Nm.