Equatorial plasma fountain and its effects over three locations: Evidence for an additional layer, the <i>F</i>₃ layer

Abstract

The equatorial plasma fountain and equatorial anomaly in the ionospheres over Jicamarca (77°W), Trivandrum (77°E), and Fortaleza (38°W) are presented using the Sheffield University plasmasphere‐ionosphere model under magnetically quiet equinoctial conditions at high solar activity. The daytime plasma fountain and its effects in the regions outside the fountain lead to the formation of an additional layer, the F 3 layer, at latitudes within about plus or minus 10° of the magnetic equator in each ionosphere. The maximum plasma concentration of the F 3 layer, which occurs at about 550 km altitude, becomes greater than that of the F 2 layer for a short period of time before noon when the vertical E × B drift is large. Within the F 3 layer the plasma temperature decreases by as much as 100 K. The ionograms recorded at Fortaleza on January 15, 1995, provide observational evidence for the development and decay of an F 3 layer before noon. The neutral wind, which causes large north–south asymmetries in the plasma fountain in each ionosphere during both daytime and nighttime, becomes least effective during the prereversal strengthening of the upward drift. During this time the plasma fountain is symmetrical with respect to the magnetic equator and rises to over 1200 km altitude at the equator, with accompanying plasma density depletions in the bottomside of the underlying F region. The north–south asymmetries of the equatorial plasma fountain and equatorial anomaly are more strongly dependent upon the displacement of the geomagnetic and geographic equators (Jicamarca and Trivandrum) than on the magnetic declination angle (Fortaleza).