A self-consistent kinetic theory of the E0¿B0 instabilities in partially ionized, inhomogeneous plasmas with arbitrary values of &ngr;&agr;/&OHgr;&agr;, where &ngr;&agr; represents the electron (ion)-neutral collision frequency and &OHgr;&agr; is the electron (ion) gyrofrequency, is presented. The theory is based on the kinetic equation with a particle number conserving collision term, which allows the particle distribution function to relax toward a local Maxwellian distribution at rest. The method consists of first solving the zero-order kinetic equation to determine the self-consistent equilibrium distribution function. The distribution function is shown to accurately represent the plasma equilibrium state, with appropriate Hall and Pedersen drifts that occur in a collisional plasma in the presence of crossed ambient electric and magnetic fields.

The linear dispersion relation is then derived from the first-order kinetic equation, and it can be used to study the E0¿B0 instabilities in all altitude regions of the ionosphere in unified manner, without the need for any a priori knowledge of the different types of particle drifts (Hall and Pedersen drifts) that are responsible for the instabilities in different altitude regions. The present theory therefore provides a more rigorous kinetic description of the E0¿B0 instabilities than obtained from the previously studied kinetic model in which the zero-order particle drifts are not determined self-consistently but have to be specified extraneously.