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Abstract Observations of coherent scatter from patchy sporadicElayers in the subauroral zone made with a 30‐MHz coherent scatter radar imager are presented. The quasiperiodic (QP) echoes are similar to what has been observed at middle latitudes but with some differences. The echoes arise from bands of scatterers aligned mainly northwest to southeast and propagating to the southwest. A notable difference from observations at middle latitudes is the appearance of secondary irregularities or braids oriented obliquely to the primary bands and propagating mainly northward along them. We present a spectral simulation of the patchy layers that describes neutral atmospheric dynamics with the incompressible Navier Stokes equations and plasma dynamics with an extended MHD model. The simulation is initialized with turning shears in the form of an Ekman spiral. Ekman‐type instability deforms the sporadicElayer through compressible and incompressible motion. The layer ultimately exhibits both the QP bands and the braids, consequences mainly of primary and secondary neutral dynamic instability. Vorticity due to dynamic instability is an important source of structuring in the sporadicElayer. 

Key Points Gradient wind balance is dominant in the neutral flow in the auroral oval in disturbed conditions The cyclonic flow on the dawn side is severely limited in magnitude by gradient wind constraints The anticyclonic flow on the dusk side can show anomalous super‐gradient behavior that accommodates significantly larger flow speeds 

Observations of backscatter from field-aligned plasma density irregularities in sporadic E (Es) layers made with a 30-MHz coherent scatter radar imager in Ithaca, New York are presented and analyzed. The volume probed by the radar lies at approximately 54° geomagnetic latitude, under the midlatitude trough and at the extreme northern edge of the zone where Es layers are prevalent. Nonetheless, the irregularities exhibit many of the characteristics of quasiperiodic echoes observed commonly at lower middle latitudes. These include a tendency to occur in elongated bands stretching from the northwest to southeast in the Northern hemisphere separated by tens of kilometers and propagating to the southwest. In addition, the irregularities were found to exhibit finer-scale structures with secondary bands oriented nearly normally to the primary bands. We investigate the proposition that the primary bands are telltale of Es-layer structuring caused by neutral Kelvin Helmholtz (KH) instability in the lower thermosphere and that the secondary bands signify secondary KH instability. Results from a 3D numerical simulation of KH support this proposition.