Vertical plasma drift in midlatitude ionosphere during the moderate geomagnetic disturbances in 2003-2007

We estimated the ion drift velocity V during moderate geomagnetic disturbances at solar decay and minimum (2003-2007). Calculations were made using the Titheridge method [Titheridge, 1995] and h mF2 values obtained from the Irkutsk digisonde data (52° N, 104° E). Diurnal and seasonal V variations were determined. We compared our results with model values [Emmert et al., 2008] and found that most of them are comparable.