Effects of wind-induced ionization layers on ionospheric electrodynamics

Abstract

Abstract The electrodynamic consequences of ionization layers produced by zonal and meridional winds are examined by investigating the height integrated Pedersen conductivity, wind driven currents, and their spatial gradients, in the presence and absence of such layers. We find that a wind induced layer itself has little effect on the height integrated Pedersen conductivity when the process of layer creation involves depletion as well as enhancement of the nominal background profile. The altitude gradients in the conductivity associated with the layer are both positive and negative and in the presence of neutral winds with long vertical wavelengths, they contribute little to the height integrated current divergence. However, short vertical wavelength meridional winds responsible for layer formation drive zonal currents with a divergence that depends on the horizontal scale of the layer itself and is likely to be small compared to the vertical gradients. A significant contribution to the gradient in the height integrated meridional current is produced by the combined action of the layer conductivity and a short vertical wavelength zonal wind. In this case the presence of a layer can easily change this gradient by a factor of 2 and thus significantly effect the global electrodynamics.