Disturbances in the Ionospheric F2 Region Associated with Geomagnetic Storms I. Equatorial Zone

In this paper an attempt is made to explain the ionospheric F2 disturbances on the equatorial zone as the effect of the vertical drift of the electron caused by the electric field deduced from the disturbance-daily variation of the earth's magnetic field. The geomagnetic and the ionospheric data are those of Huancayo on the magnetic equator. The calculations of the disturbed variations are carried out for the individual ionospheric disturbances.The results show that the calculated variations of the disturbances using the geomagnetic data are well in accordance with the observed ionospheric data, both in the magnitudes and in the characteristics of the variations. Therefore the ionospheric F2 disturbances near the magnetic equator can be interpreted as the effect of the vertical drift of the electron.