Ionosphere F2 layer stratification caused by shear excited atmospheric vortical perturbation

Abstract

We found that the height distribution of electron density of the mid-latitude ionosphere F2 region during nighttime being under the influence of a vortical perturbation excited in the horizontal shear flow (horizontal wind with horizontal linear shear) is characterized with a multiple structure. The analytical description for the ionosphere F2 region electron density height distribution was obtained by solving the ambipolar diffusion equation taking into account the presence of atmospheric shear waves (vortical perturbations excited in the horizontal shear flow). The peak heights and corresponding multi-layer electron densities in the F2 region depend on the values of the meridional wind zonal shear and the shear wave vertical wavenumber. The atmospheric shear wave is transformed into short-period atmospheric gravity wave (AGW) which is reflected in the oscillations of the F2 layer peak height ( hmF2) and peak density ( NmF2).