Studies of the time‐height trajectories of ionosphere E region layers at Arecibo have revealed not only the usual diurnal sporadic‐E and semidiurnal intermediate layer structures but also that on occasion, extra layers form and descend through the E region. In particular, during January 1981, four layers per day were observed to descend through the upper E region. This four‐per‐day layer system was remarkably coherent over the 3 days of observation and suggests the existence of a 6‐hour period or quarterdiurnal tidal wind system in the upper E region. Numerical simulations of ion trajectories in a realistic model atmosphere with diurnal, semidiurnal, and quarterdiurnal tidal wind systems of appropriate amplitude and phase structures confirm that the presence of a quarterdiurnal tide is sufficient to explain the observations.

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Simultaneous UHF and VHF radar observations of the 60–90 km mesosphere at Arecibo were made during the occurrence of a January 1981 type 4 solar X ray flare. The observations involved use of the UHF incoherent scatter technique at 430 MHz and the VHF turbulent scatter technique at 46.8 MHz. These observations provided a unique opportunity to test the basic premises of the turbulent gradient mixing hypothesis. UHF measurements show that enhanced electron concentration gradients were established with the flare onset. Two turbulent layers were observed with the 46.8 MHz radar before, during and after the flare. Enhanced scattering from both layers peaked within 3–6 min of the beginning of the flare. Only a slight variability in Doppler width of VHF returns from both layers was observed over the pre‐ to post flare period indicating that the power dissipation associated with turbulence remained essentially constant. We find that almost all the enhancement of VHF signals can be attributed to the flare induced increase in electron concentration gradients. We also conclude that the observed delay of 3–6 min between flare onset and the peak of VHF returns is related to an eddy overturning time required for mixing‐in of gradients to the Bragg scale.