North-South asymmetry of ionospheric storms-dependence on longitude and season

Abstract

The study of ionospheric storms at pairs of north and south mid-latitude stations in different longitude zones, individually for each season, has shown asymmetry in their behaviour, most significantly in the Pacific zone, to some extent in the Asian and American zones. The decrease of ƒ₀F2 which is found to occur during geomagnetic storms in Summer months is conspicuously absent at Rarotonga. This suggests that ionospheric storm variations are greatly affected by horizontal and vertical movements of ionisation, which are controlled by the asymmetric magnetic field of the Earth.