Ionospheric Vertical Plasma Drift Perturbations Due to the Quasi-2 Day Wave

Abstract:

The Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model is utilized to study the vertical E×B drift perturbations due to the westward quasi-2 day wave (Q2DW) with zonal wavenumber 2 and 3 (W2 and W3). The simulations show that both wind components contribute directly and significantly to the vertical drift, which is not merely confined to low latitudes. The vertical drifts at the equator induced by the total wind perturbations of W2 are comparable with that at middle latitudes, while the vertical drifts from W3 are much stronger at middle latitudes than at the equator. The ion drift perturbations induced by the zonal and meridional wind perturbations of W2 are nearly in-phase with each other, whereas the phase discrepancies of the ion drift induced by the individual wind component of W3 are much larger. This is because the wind perturbations of W2 and W3 have different latitudinal structures and phases.