Magnetometer-inferred, Equatorial, Daytime Vertical ExB Drift Velocities Observed in the African Longitude Sector

A recent paper has investigated the sharp longitude gradients in the dayside ExB drift velocities associated with the 4-cell, non-migrating structures thought to be connected with the eastward propagating, diurnal, non-migrating (DE3) tides. Observations of vertical ExB drift velocities obtained from the Ion Velocity Meter (IVM) on the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecast System (C/NOFS) satellite were obtained in the Western Pacific, Eastern Pacific, Peruvian and Atlantic sectors for a few days during the months of October, March and December, 2009. Respective ExB drift velocity gradients at the cell boundaries for these 4 longitude sectors were a.) -1.3m/sec/degree, b.) 3m/sec/degree, c.) -4m/sec/degree and d.) 1m/sec/degree and were observed on a day-to-day basis. In this talk, we estimate the longitude gradients in the dayside, vertical ExB drift velocities from magnetometer H-component observations in the African sector. We briefly describe the technique for obtaining realistic ExB drift velocities associated with the difference in the H-component values between a magnetometer on the magnetic equator and one off the magnetic equator at 6 to 9 degrees dip latitude (delta H). We present magnetometer-inferred, dayside ExB drift velocities obtained from the AMBER (African Meridian B-field Education and Research) magnetometer chain in the East Africa (Ethiopian) longitude sector and the West African (Nigerian) longitude sector. We compare the longitude gradients in ExB drift velocities in the African sector with the C/NOFS- observed longitude gradients mentioned above. We also discuss the advantages of using ground-based magnetometer observations to infer ExB drift velocities compared with the C/NOFS satellite observations.