Modeling the daytime, equatorial ionospheric ion densities associated with the observed, four‐cell longitude patterns in E × B drift velocities

Previous studies have quantified the longitude gradients in E × B drift associated with the four‐cell tidal structures and have confirmed that these sharp gradients exist on a day‐to‐day basis. For this paper, we incorporate the Ion Velocity Meter (IVM) sensor on the Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System satellite to obtain the daytime, vertical E × B drift velocities at the magnetic equator as a function of longitude, local time, and season and to theoretically calculate the F region ion densities as a function of altitude, latitude, longitude, and local time using the Global Ionosphere Plasmasphere model. We compare calculated ion densities assuming no longitude gradients in E × B drift velocities with calculated ion densities incorporating the IVM‐observed E × B drift at the boundaries of the four‐cell tidal structures in the Peruvian and the Atlantic longitude sectors. Incorporating the IVM‐observed E × B drift velocities, the ion density crests rapidly converge to the magnetic equator between 285 and 300°E geographic longitude, are absent between 300° and 305°, and move away from the magnetic equator between 305° and 340°. In essence, the steeper the longitude gradient in E × B drifts, the steeper the longitude gradient in the equatorial anomaly crest location.