Another look at equatorial metallic ions in the F region

An extensive survey is made of the equatorial occurrences of the Fe+ ion as detected by the ion mass spectrometer on the Atmospheric Explorer E. The longest time period (4 years) data base available for the study of the equatorial metallic ion distributions is considered, as well as Fe+ concentrations exceeding 10, 30, and 100 per cubic cm. The number of occurrences in the F region are most frequent at the dayside dip equator. Diurnally, the events are not appreciable in the F region until a few hours after dawn, reaching a maximum near noon followed by a secondary maximum in the afternoon. Near and after dusk the Fe+ ions extended on the average to higher altitudes than during the day and became less and less frequent from midnight to dawn. Seasonally, the distributions between 200 and 300 km are skewed away from the dip equator during the day with the maximum frequency of occurrence north (south) of the dip equator during a period centered on the December (June) solstice.