Orientation of the cross-field anisotropy of small-scale ionospheric irregularities and direction of plasma convection

摘要

The relationship between the orientation of thesmall-scale ionospheric irregularity anisotropy in a planeperpendicular to the geomagnetic field and the direction of plasmaconvection in the F region is investigated. The cross-fieldanisotropy of irregularities is obtained by fitting theoreticalexpectations for the amplitude scintillations of satellite radiosignals to the actual measurements. Information on plasmaconvection was provided by the SuperDARN HF radars. Jointsatellite/radar observations in both the auroral zone and thepolar cap are considered. It is shown that the irregularitycross-field anisotropy agrees quite well with the direction ofplasma convection with the best agreement for events withquasi-stationary convection patterns.