This study investigates the impact of dynamical processes in the neutral atmosphere on the high-midlatitude ionosphere during two sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events. For this purpose, the reanalysis meteorological data of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) and UK Met Office (UKMO) were used in addition to that from the high-midlatitude chain of Russian ionosonde stations. The results show that the ionospheric response to the SSW events at high-midlatitudes depends on the position of the ionosonde stations relative to the stratospheric circulation pattern. Two well-pronounced effects were detected in this study. The first effect, observed in January 2009, was a negative effect in critical frequency (foF2) and a positive effect in F2 layer maximum (hmF2) above the border of a stratospheric cyclone and an anticyclone with northward flow direction. During a 6-day period, the ionosphere exhibited a sharply inhomogeneous longitudinal structure when ionosondes, displaced at a longitude of approximately 20°, showed differences of approximately 1 MHz in foF2 and more than 50 km in hmF2.
