The long‐duration positive storm effects in the equatorial ionosphere over Jicamarca

Abstract

The long‐duration positive storm (LPS) in the equatorial regions is relatively poorly understood. In this report, we conducted a statistical analysis of the LPS effects in the equatorial ionosphere over Jicamarca (12.0°S, 283.2°E) in 1998–2010. There are 250 geomagnetic storms (minimum Dst < −50 nT) in 1998–2010, but the ionosonde observations at Jicamarca are available only for 204 storms. A total of 46 LPSs are identified in terms of the criterion that the storm time relative deviation of peak density of F2 layer (NmF2) exceeds 25% for more than 6 h. A salient feature is that the occurrence of LPSs tends to decay approximately exponentially on the following days after the main phase of geomagnetic storms. The ratios of the number of equatorial LPSs to that of geomagnetic storms have no obvious dependence on season and solar activity. During the daytime LPSs, the disturbed zonal electric field is mostly westward, as indicated from the geomagnetic field changes in the equatorial American region. For the nighttime LPSs, the significant uplifting of F2 layer caused by an eastward electric field is the most important feature. Therefore, the disturbed electric field should play an essential role in forming the equatorial LPSs.