The Variability of the Zonal Plasma Drift in the Equatorial F Region
Abstract
The variability of the equatorial zonal plasma drift with solar flux, season, longitude, latitude, and local time is investigated by analyzing the measurements of the ion velocity from the ROCSAT-1 satellite. Our major objectives are to identify (1) the effect of the zonal shear plasma flow on the plasma bubble morphology and (2) the presence of wave structure in the zonal plasma drift. For these purposes, we compare the latitudinal profile of the zonal plasma drift observed by ROCSAT-1 with the plasma bubble morphology observed by TIMED/GUVI. The longitudinal variation of the zonal plasma drift velocity observed by ROCSAT-1 is compared with the longitudinal wave structures in the F-region plasma density observed by ROCSAT-1, CHAMP, and COSMIC and in the F-region zonal wind velocity observed by CHAMP.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFMSA51B1234K
- Keywords:
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- 2411 IONOSPHERE / Electric fields;
- 2415 IONOSPHERE / Equatorial ionosphere;
- 2437 IONOSPHERE / Ionospheric dynamics