Internal Gravity Waves in the Earth’s Ionosphere

The theory of low-frequency internal gravity waves (IGWs) is readdressed in the stable stratified weakly ionized Earth’s ionosphere. The formation of dipolar vortex structures and their dynamical evolution as well as the emergence of chaos in the wave–wave interactions are studied both in the presence and absence of the Pedersen conductivity. The latter is shown to inhibit the formation of solitary vortices and the onset of chaos.