Plasma bubble zonal drift characteristics observed by airglow images over Brazilian tropical region

Paulino, Igo; Medeiros, A. F.; Buriti, R. A.; Takahashi, H.; Sobral, J. H. A.; Gobbi, D.

doi:10.1590/s0102-261x2011000200003

Cited by 26 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…Airglow observations previously conducted by Pautet et al [] and Paulino et al [] showed similar postmidnight secondary peaks in the zonal drift velocities. Pautet et al [] attributed the postmidnight velocity enhancement to the growth of postmidnight EPBs.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

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A statistical analysis of equatorial plasma bubble structures based on an all‐sky airglow imager network in China

Sun

Wang

et al. 2016

JGR Space Physics

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This paper investigates the statistical features of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) using airglow images from 2012 to 2014 from a ground‐based network of four imagers in the equatorial region of China. It is found that (1) EPBs mainly occur during 21:00–00:00 local time (LT) in equinoxes. There is an asymmetry in occurrence rates between March (June) and September equinoxes (December solstices). (2) Most EPBs occur in groups of two to six depletions. The distance between adjacent EPB depletions is ~100–700 km, and the average is 200–300 km. The zonal extension of an EPB group is usually less than 1500 km but can reach 3000 km. (3) EPBs usually have a maximum drift velocity near 100 m/s at 21:00–22:00 LT in 9.5° ± 1.5° geomagnetic latitude and then decrease to 50–70 m/s toward sunrise. (4) The averaged westward tilt angle of most EPBs (with respect to the geographic north‐south) increased from 5°–10° to 23°–30° with LT between 20:00 and 03:00 LT, then decreasing to 10°–20° toward sunrise. (5) When 90 < F10.7 < 140, the maximum magnetic latitudinal extension (PMLE) is usually lower than 15.0° (apex height ~725 km), but it can reach 23.0° (apex height ~1330 km) when F10.7 > 140. The maximum PMLE increases by 3.4°–5.5° when F10.7 changes from 90 to 190. (6) The EPB occurrence patterns and zonal drift velocities are significantly different from those at Kolhapur, India, which locates west to our stations by 20.0°–32.0° in longitude.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

“…Pautet et al [] attributed the postmidnight velocity enhancement to the growth of postmidnight EPBs. Paulino et al [] attributed the secondary peak of the EPB zonal drift velocity to a minor contribution from vertical electric field variations that were well predicted by the theoretical model of Arruda et al . [].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

A statistical analysis of equatorial plasma bubble structures based on an all‐sky airglow imager network in China

Sun

Wang

et al. 2016

JGR Space Physics

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“…EPBs can serve as tools for studying the nocturnal ionospheric electrodynamics as well. For example, EPBs are used to measure the nocturnal zonal plasma drift in the low‐latitude regions [ Martinis et al ., ; Arruda et al ., ; Paulino et al ., ; Chapagain et al ., ]. Martinis et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Direct observational evidence for the merging of equatorial plasma bubbles

2016

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In this work we present direct ground‐based observational evidence for the merging of individual equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) obtained through the imaging of OI 630.0 nm airglow. Three potential mechanisms have been identified: (1) One of the EPBs tilts and reaches location of the adjacent growing EPB finally merging with it. (2) Some of the branches of an EPB arising from secondary instabilities reach out to adjacent EPB and merge with it. (3) The eastward zonal drift of the EPB on the eastern side slows down while the adjacent EPB on the western side drifts relatively faster and catches up. In one of the cases, a branch of an EPB was observed to get interchanged with another EPB as a result of merging and consequent pinching off from the parent EPB.

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“…Characteristics of EPBs have been extensively studied using different techniques such as VHF radars (Tsunoda, 1981;Abdu et al, 2009), rockets Muralikrishna et al, 2007), ionosondes (Abdu et al, 1983(Abdu et al, , 2003(Abdu et al, , 2012, optical imagers (Pimenta et al, 2003;Arruda et al, 2006;Paulino et al, 2011), GNSS receivers (De Rezende et al, 2007;Takahashi et al, 2014Takahashi et al, , 2015, and satellites (Huang et al, 2002(Huang et al, , 2013McNamara et al, 2013;Park et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of equatorial plasma bubbles observed by TEC map based on ground-based GNSS receivers over South America

et al. 2018

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Abstract. A ground-based network of GNSS receivers has been used to monitor equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) by mapping the total electron content (TEC map). The large coverage of the TEC map allowed us to monitor several EPBs simultaneously and get characteristics of the dynamics, extension and longitudinal distributions of the EPBs from the onset time until their disappearance. These characteristics were obtained by using TEC map analysis and the keogram technique. TEC map databases analyzed were for the period between November 2012 and January 2016. The zonal drift velocities of the EPBs showed a clear latitudinal gradient varying from 123 m s −1 at the Equator to 65 m s −1 for 35• S latitude. Consequently, observed EPBs are inclined against the geomagnetic field lines. Both zonal drift velocity and the inclination of the EPBs were compared to the thermospheric neutral wind, which showed good agreement. Moreover, the large two-dimensional coverage of TEC maps allowed us to study periodic EPBs with a wide longitudinal distance. The averaged values observed for the inter-bubble distances also presented a clear latitudinal gradient varying from 920 km at the Equator to 640 km at 30 • S. The latitudinal gradient in the inter-bubble distances seems to be related to the difference in the zonal drift velocity of the EPB from the Equator to middle latitudes and to the difference in the westward movement of the terminator. On several occasions, the distances reached more than 2000 km. Inter-bubble distances greater than 1000 km have not been reported in the literature.

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Plasma bubble zonal drift characteristics observed by airglow images over Brazilian tropical region

Cited by 26 publications

References 51 publications

A statistical analysis of equatorial plasma bubble structures based on an all‐sky airglow imager network in China

A statistical analysis of equatorial plasma bubble structures based on an all‐sky airglow imager network in China

Direct observational evidence for the merging of equatorial plasma bubbles

Characteristics of equatorial plasma bubbles observed by TEC map based on ground-based GNSS receivers over South America

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