The mass spectrometric observations by the ISS-b satellite at an altitude of 1100 km during a period of solar maximum (1978-1981) have enabled to investigate the diurnal behavior of the equatorial He
+ trough. Case studies using the individual pass plots show that the depth of the trough tends to be maximum around midnight. A statistical analysis has revealed that at the crest latitude He
+ density maximizes at midnight while at the equator it becomes minimum at night. From these characteristics, it is concluded that the latitudinal change of the reservoir effect of the plasmasphere is the primary mechanism for the formation of the equatorial He
+ trough. The equatorial anomaly in the NmF2 distributions, which were observed simultaneously by ISS-b, has apparent similarity to the equatorial He
+ trough, however, the statistical analysis has shown that the diurnal behavior of NmF2 at its crest is definitely different from that of He
+. This difference suggests the adequacy of the interpretation of the He
+ trough in terms of the reservoir effect rather than the fountain effect due to
E x
B drift, which has been known to be responsible for the equatorial anomaly in NmF2. The results of ISS-b on NmF2 are consistent with this fountain effect. It is also suggested that
E x
B drift and/or the neutral winds modify the distributions of NmF2 and He
+ to the extent that they exhibit similar latitudinal profiles.
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