Nonlinear Planetary Electromagnetic Vortex Structures in the Ionospheric F-Layer

A study is made of the dynamics of planetary-scale electromagnetic waves in the F-layer of the ionosphere. It is shown that, in this layer, a new branch of large-scale magneto-ionospheric wave perturbations is generated under the action of the latitudinal variations of the geomagnetic field, which are a constant property of the ionosphere. The waves propagate along the parallels with phase velocities of tens to hundreds of km/s. The pulsations of the geomagnetic field in the waves can be as strong as several tens of nT. A possible self-localization effect is revealed: these waves may form nonlinear localized solitary vortices moving either westward or eastward along the parallels with velocities much higher than the phase velocities of the linear waves. The characteristic dimension of a vortex is about 10[sup 4] km or even larger. The magnetic fields generated by vortex structures are one order of magnitude stronger than those in linear waves. The vortices are long-lived formations and may be regarded as elements of strong structural turbulence in the ionosphere. The properties of the wave structures under investigation are very similar to those of ultralow-frequency perturbations observed experimentally in the ionosphere at middle latitudes.