Zonal irregularity drifts and neutral winds measured near the magnetic equator in Peru

Abstract

Measurements of zonal irregularity drifts were made by the spaced receiver scintillation and radar interferometer techniques from Huancayo and Jicamarca, respectively. The Fabry-Perot Interferometer operated at Arequipa provided the zonal neutral winds. These simultaneous measurements were performed during evening hours in the presence of equatorial spread- F on three nights in October 1988. The zonal drift of 3-m irregularities obtained with the 50-MHz radar showed considerable variation as a function of altitude. The drift of hundreds of m-scale irregularities obtained by the scintillation technique agreed with the drift of 3-m irregularities when the latter were measured near the F-peak. The neutral winds, on the other hand, sometimes exceeded the irregularity drifts by a factor of two. This is a possible result of the partial reduction of the vertical polarization electric field in the F-region caused by the effects of integrated Pedersen conductivity of the off-equatorial night-time E-region coupled to the F-region at high altitudes above the magnetic equator.