Diurnal variations of equatorial electrojet parameters derived from POGO solstitial data

The POGO electrojet data have been analysed for the winter and summer solstitial seasons of the two years, 1968 and 1969, respectively. Our analysis yielded a very large number of values (about 432), each of the electrojet half width, w, its peak current intensity, J₀, and its total eastward current, I₊, at 0900–1400 LT in December, and at 1000–1500 LT in June solstitial seasons, respectively. The all-longitude daytime values of the parameters are 246 ± 48 km for w,216 ± 60 A km^?1 for J₀, and (58 ± 8) × 10³A for I₊, in December of 1968 and 218 ± 19 km for w, 187 ± 20 A km^?1 for J₀, and (45 ± 3) × 10³ A for I₊, in June of 1969, respectively. We therefore present a diurnal study covering the entire Earth, in which for the first time, morning data earlier than 1000 LT are incorporated in the analysis. This has enabled us to chart a clearer picture of the temporal variations of electrojet parameters at two different solstices. This shows that all of the three parameters vary substantially with local time, in such a manner that J₀ and I₊ attain maximal values around local noon, while w is a minimum then, and therefore confirms the finding of Agu and Onwumechili.