Redistribution of ionization in the auroral and equatorial ionosphere

It is shown that the electric fields that can exist in the auroral and equatorial ionospheres should produce a convergent flow of metallic ions. It is suggested that this convergent flow of ions is responsible for some of the sporadic E with high ƒ b E s observed in these regions. It is further suggested that the existence of meridional currents in the equatorial ionosphere might be detected by their production of sporadic E , whereas in the auroral ionosphere the direction of the electric field and the molecular weight of the ions responsible for the E s layer can be found from height measurements and the separation between the striations in the sporadic layer.