Variability or structure in the ion velocity at high latitudes in the F region is an important consideration when calculating an accurate Joule heating rate. Velocity structure in time and space may contribute significantly to heating of the F region and its inclusion could help improve our understanding of the energy budget of the atmosphere. In this paper we neglect temporal changes over periods less than 16 s and discuss the characteristic spatial structure in the ion drift in the F region ionosphere and how it relates to the bulk ion flow, the gradient on the bulk ion flow, and the ion temperature in the polar cap and auroral zone. This investigation uses data from the Dynamics Explorer 2 satellite and is limited to times of stable southward interplanetary magnetic field. Under these conditions time averaged enhancements in the Joule heating rate from the presence of spatial structure in the auroral zones have minimum values ranging from 4% to 13% depending on season.