Electrical coupling of the E- and F-regions and its effect on F-region drifts and winds

Electric currents, generated by thermospheric winds, flow along the geomagnetic field lines linking the E-and F-regions. Their effects on the electric field distribution are investigated by solving the electrical and dynamical equations. The input data include appropriate models of the F-region tidal winds, the thermospheric pressure distribution and the E-and F-layer concentrations. At the magnetic equator, the calculated neutral air wind at 240 km height has a prevailling eastward component of 55 m sec^-1 and the west-east and vertical ion drifts agree in their general form with incoherent scatter data from Jicamarca