An Empirical Model of Vertical Plasma Drift Over the African Sector

Abstract Daytime vertical E  ×  B drift can be derived from difference of H‐component magnetic field measurements (Δ H ) using a pair of low‐latitude and equatorial latitude magnetometer stations. Knowledge of E  ×  B drift is of utmost importance in space weather‐related predictions since it can significantly affect ionospheric density structures and dynamics. For the first time, we developed a quantitative relationship between equatorial electrojet (Δ H ) and vertical E  ×  B drift over the African region using magnetometer data and E  ×  B drift observations from the Communication and Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite during local daytime (0700–1800 LT) from 2008 to 2013 when magnetometer data were available. Additionally, we have constructed vertical E  ×  B drift models over the African sector based on C/NOFS vertical E  ×  B drift data and relevant physical and geophysical inputs. Validating using data not included in model development, our model estimated C/NOFS vertical E  ×  B drift with correlation coefficient values of 0.85 and 0.56 during quiet and disturbed conditions, respectively. The daily pattern of the E  ×  B drift velocity is consistent between the developed model based on C/NOFS data and the climatological Scherliess‐Fejer model. However, the Scherliess‐Fejer model generally overestimated C/NOFS vertical E  ×  B drift (in most cases) with a correlation coefficient of 0.54 during quiet conditions.