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Tsunoda 2006
Tsunoda, R.T. (2006). Day-to-day variability in equatorial spread F: Is there some physics missing?. Geophysical Research Letters 33: doi: 10.1029/2006GL025956. issn: 0094-8276.

Attempts continue to be made, without notable success, to identify the source of day-to-day variability in occurrence of equatorial spread F (ESF). Most seek to uncover a controlling factor in one of the parameters that describe the linear growth rate of the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability. It is possible, however, that some physics is still missing in that description of ESF generation. Consideration is given here to an F-region response to a large-scale polarization electric field that is generated by a sporadic-E layer instability (Cosgrove and Tsunoda, 2002) and mapped to the bottomside of the F2 layer. Results indicate that the large-scale wave structure, the most reliable precursor for ESF, may be initiated by this process at the base of the F2 layer, where plasma drift is westward.

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Abstract

Keywords
Ionosphere, Plasma waves and instabilities, Ionosphere, Ionospheric irregularities, Ionosphere, Ionospheric disturbances, Ionosphere, Equatorial ionosphere, Ionosphere, Electric fields
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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