Modeling the meteoric dust effect on the equatorial electrojet Original Research Article

Dust particles of meteoric origin in the lower E-region can affect the conductivity parameters by varying the effective collision frequency and by causing electron bite outs through the capture of ambient electrons. In magnetized plasma, neutral dust particles can alter the effective collision frequency parameters and thus affect the Pedersen and Hall conductivities in the electrojet region. The Cowling conductivity profile is determined by the height profiles of the Hall and Pedersen conductivities. The collision parameters altered by the neutral dust particles can be considerably different from those estimated from atmospheric models, in the lower E-region heights where dust particles of meteoric origin are known to exist in large numbers. A significant fraction of these dust particles may capture free electrons from the ambient medium and get charged negatively. This can result in reduction in the number density of free electrons especially below the electrojet peak where the dust particles can be present in large numbers, at least on days of large meteor showers. This, in turn, can once again alter the vertical profile of the east–west Hall current driven by the vertical Hall polarization field and under favorable conditions, can even account for the reversal of the electrojet currents below the current peak. Assuming a realistic model for the distribution of neutral dust particles, the conductivity parameters are estimated here. Conditions under which the dust particles can cause partial reversals in the electrojet currents are critically examined here.