The role of zonal winds in the production of a pre‐reversal enhancement in the vertical ion drift in the low latitude ionosphere

The evolution of the pre‐reversal enhancement in the vertical ion drift in the equatorialFregion is described via an examination of the current systems determined from a coupled ionosphere thermosphere model. We find that the pre‐reversal enhancement is produced by a reversal in theF region zonal wind that results in an additional upward current where the E region Pedersen conductivity is declining across the dusk sector. The continuity of the total current is maintained through an enhancement in the eastward zonal current and an associated upward drift of the ions.