Equatorial F region evening vertical drift, and peak height, during southern winter months: A comparison of observational data with the IRI descriptions

Abstract

The equatorial F region evening vertical drift, due to pre-reversal electric field enhancement, is an important condition for the spread F/plasma bubble irregularity generation, that is more frequent during summer-equinoctial months over South America. A comparative study of these vertical drifts with their IRI representations was presented at the Grahamstown IRI 2003 workshop. During southern winter months the post-sunset ESF development is relatively infrequent over South America due to the generally weaker intensity of the sunset zonal electric field, which, however, is critical in determining the equatorial spread F (ESF) development under magnetospherically disturbed conditions. Therefore a detailed understanding of the characteristics of the evening F layer vertical drift, hmF2 and foF2 during southern winter months is important for developing/improving their representations in the IRI scheme. In this paper we have undertaken a study of these parameters over the Brazilian equatorial sites, Sao Luis (2.33S, 44.2W, dip angle: −0.5°, declination angle: 21W°) and the low latitude site, Cachoeira Paulista (22.6°S, 315°E; dip angle: −32°) in comparison with their existing representations in the IRI. The study is made as a function of the solar flux varying from the solar activity minimum to maximum conditions. Some of the results in the Brazilian longitude sector are compared with results from Jicamarca (12°S, 76.9°W; dip latitude: 1°N, declination angle: ∼3°E) in Peru, separated by a large difference in magnetic declination angle. The magnetic equatorial and the low latitude stations analyzed here are all located in the southern geographic hemisphere. Systematic patterns of difference between the observed characteristics of these parameters and their IRI representations are identified for eventual corrections to their existing representations in the IRI model. The study has yielded further important clues towards a better understanding of the possible mechanism for the infrequent ESF occurrence in winter over South America, and especially over Brazil.