Dual Sounding Rocket and C/NOFS Satellite Observations of DC Electric Fields and Plasma Density in the Equatorial E- and F-Region Ionosphere at Sunset.

 ×  plasma drifts and plasma number density were measured on two NASA rockets launched simultaneously at sunset from Kwajalein Atoll with apogees of 182 and 331 km, with similar, coincident measurements gathered on the Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite at 390 km. The combined measurements portray a highly dynamic ionosphere in a narrow range of local time and altitude, providing evidence of vortex-like motions. Although the vertical plasma drift was upwards, its magnitude was not constant, increasing between ∼150 and 250 km altitude where the plasma density was reduced.