Ionospheric Electron Density Perturbations Driven by Seismic Tsunami-Excited Gravity Waves: Effect of Dynamo Electric Field

The effect of an ionospheric dynamo electric field on the electron density and total electron content (TEC) perturbations in the F layer (150–600 km altitudes) is investigated at two arbitrarily selected locations (noted as 29◦ N and 60◦ N in latitudes) in the presence of seismic tsunami-excited gravity waves propagating in a stratified, nondissipative atmosphere where vertical gradients of atmospheric properties are taken into consideration. Generalized ion momentum and continuity equations are solved, followed by an analysis of the dynamo electric field (E). The E-strength is within several mV/m, determined by the zonal neutral wind and meridional geomagnetic field. It is found that, at the mid-latitude location, ne is dominated by the atmospheric meridional wind when E = 0, while it is determined by the zonal wind when E 6= 0. The perturbed TEC over its unperturbed magnitude lies in around 10% at all altitudes for E = 0, while it keeps the same percentage at most altitudes for E 6= 0, except a jump to >25% in the F2-peak layer (300–340 km in height). By contrast, at the low-latitude location, the TEC jump is eliminated by the locally enhanced background electron density. J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2015, 3 1195