Polar cap sporadic-E: part 1, observations

Sporadic E (Es) is reasonably common in the central polar cap where some of the mechanisms that produce Es at lower latitudes should become inoperative. There is some occasional auroral Es but this is readily identifiable. The other types of Es that are observed have different properties in winter and summer. The characteristic winter type is a "height-spread", short-lived layer that tends to occur in the middle and upper E region. The common summer type is in the form of a "thin", long-lived layer in the lower E region. Both summer and winter types are associated with positive IMF B-y. We explain the initial formation of Es by gravity waves that move ionization out of the lower F region into the E region and concentrate it at reversals of vertical gravity wave motion. These concentrations are seen in winter as transient Es layers. In summer, these transient layers persist and change into long-lived thin Es layers because of metallic ions that are maintained in an ionized state by charge exchange of neutral metal atoms with the ambient E region NO+ and O-2(+) ions produced by photo-ionization. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.