Abstract:
Abstract
The Earth’s ionosphere is part of the upper atmosphere that consists of plasma. Plasma at the
equatorial ionosphere is basically produced by photo-ionization of the thin upper atmospheric
gases by ultra-violet and shorter wavelength photons from the sun. The EIA is typical plasma
dynamic processes of the equatorial ionosphere and characterized as the occurrence of a trough
in the ionization concentration at the equator and crests from about 150 in magnetic latitude
in each hemisphere. In this study the ionospheric electron density data is recorded from in situ
measurement of SWARM satellite. Specifically, we studied seasonal and longitudinal variations
of the EIA for the year of 2014. It is found that the maximum electron density near equatorial
anomaly crest yield their maximum values during the equinox months and their minimum values
during the June solstice months. During Equinoctial months there is insignificant longitudinal
variation in the EIA structure and in June solstice the longitudinal variation of EIA structure is
different for different months. The longitudinal variation in the structure of EIA is also significant
in those months grouped under December solstice.