Ion-neutral coupling effects on low-latitude thermospheric evening winds

We examine the forces that determine zonal wind structure in the low-latitude evening thermosphere and its relation with ion-neutral coupling. These winds drive the evening F region dynamo that affects the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) and the generation of plasma irregularities. Forces are calculated using the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model coupled with the Global Ionosphere-Plasmasphere model. At 19 LT, the horizontal pressure gradient dominates the net acceleration of neutral winds below ∼220 km, while it tends to be offset by ion drag and viscosity higher up. The eastward pressure-gradient acceleration above 200 km increases approximately linearly with height and tends to be similar for different latitudes and different levels of solar activity. The pressure-gradient and ion-drag forces in the central F region approximately balance for field lines that pass through the EIA. Viscosity is an important additional force at non-EIA latitudes and in the bottomside and topside EIA ionosphere. An increase in E region drag on plasma convection due to increased nighttime ionization causes both the ion and neutral velocities in the F region to decrease, while the velocity difference tends to be maintained. The presence of a low-latitude evening time vertical shear in the zonal wind is associated primarily with a strong eastward pressure-gradient acceleration at high altitude that reverses the daytime westward wind and a weak low-altitude pressure-gradient acceleration of either eastward or westward direction that fails to reverse the low-altitude westward wind present in the afternoon.