Comparative studies of E-region ionospheric drifts and meteor winds

Ionospheric drifts using total reflections from the E-region have been compared with neutral winds measured by meteor radar. Close agreement was found when both measurements were made in a common volume of atmosphere. Even with a separation of 700 km between the measuring regions the results were very similar. It is concluded that the drift technique does measure the movement of the neutral atmosphere in the altitude range 95–120 km. The agreement between measurements from widely separated regions indicates the horizontal scale of the wind structure is at least 700 km.