Sporadic-E associated with the Leonid meteor shower event of November 1998over low and equatorial latitudes

Rapid radio soundings were made over Ahmedabad, a low latitude station duri ng the period 16-20 November 1998 to study the sporadic-E layer associated with the Leonid shower activity using the KEL Aerospace digital ionosonde. Hourly ionograms for the period 11 November to 34 November were also examin ed during the years from 1994 to 1998. A distinct increase in sporadic-E la yer occurrence is noticed on 17, 18 and 19 November from 1996 to 1998. The diurnal variations of f(0)E(s) and f(b)E(s) also show significantly enhance d values for the morning hours of 18 and 19 November 1998. The ionograms cl early show strong sporadic-E reflections at times of peak shower activity w ith multiple traces in the altitude range of 100-140 km in few ionograms. S poradic-E layers with multiple structures in altitude are also seen in some of the ionograms (quarter hourly) at Thumba, situated near the magnetic eq uator. Few of ionograms recorded at Kodaikanal, another equatorial station, also show sporadic-E reflections in spite of the transmitter power being s ignificantly lower. These new results highlighting the effect of intense me teor showers in the equatorial and low latitude E-region are presented.