A simulation study on the impact of altitudinal dependent vertical plasma drift on the equatorial ionosphere in the evening

The first input is calculated from an empirical model, the second is a height-averaged drift obtained from the observed drift velocity, and the third one corresponds to the observed altitudinal dependent drift data. A strong equatorial ionization anomaly occurred in the results of all numerical experiments. Additional layers (F₃ layers) in electron densities over the equatorial F region and "arch" latitudinal structures extending to lower middle latitudes were seen in the simulations driven by the observed altitudinal dependent drift.

We further show that neutral winds do not have a significant effect on the simulated F₃ layers. The results of our numerical experiments suggest that the simulated additional ionospheric layers and arch structures are associated with the altitudinal gradients in the vertical plasma drift velocity.