Shear in the zonal drifts of 3 m irregularities inside spread F plumes observed over Sanya

Incoherent scatter radars near magnetic equator regularly measured a vertical shear in zonal drifts of the evening background plasma, with westward drifts below the equatorial F region peak and eastward drifts above. We report here observations of a clear shear structure in the zonal drifts of 3 m irregularities inside spread F (SF) backscatter plumes measured with a 47.5 MHz coherent scatter radar operated at a low‐latitude site Sanya (18.4°N, 109.6°E; dip latitude 12.8°N). The radar interferometry analysis on the zonal drifts of the 3 m irregularities yields results consistent with that estimated from the irregularity echo Doppler velocity measurements with multiple beams. It is shown that the SF 3 m irregularities move westward at the lowest altitudes, while at higher altitudes in the same SF plume structure, the 3 m irregularities drift eastward. One interesting point is that the vertical shear of zonal drifts was centered at ~300 km altitude over Sanya, which maps to an apex altitude of ~650 km at magnetic equator and is thus apparently higher than the apex altitudes 250–450 km where the zonal velocity shear has usually been observed. Analysis of the observations suggests that while the possibility of local generation of the shear flow of the irregularities can exist, the possibility of a plasma vortex appearing at relative high altitudes causing the zonal drift shear of F region 3 m irregularities measured over Sanya cannot be totally ruled out.