Relationship between plasma bubbles and density enhancements: Observations and interpretation

Huang, Chao-Tsung; Le, G.; Beaujardière, O. de La; Roddy, P. A.; Hunton, D. E.; Pfaff, R. F.; Hairston, M. R.

doi:10.1002/2013ja019579

Cited by 38 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Since the power spectra of bubbles and blobs are similar in a spatial range of about 1.5-2.0 km, it is likely that blobs are generated when zonal electric fields inside bubbles move them all the way to the topside ionosphere (Park et al 2008). In addition, it has also been witnessed from our observational results that the presence of plasma blobs can be seen during the times of downward reversal of ambient drift (see Figure 5), which strongly indicates the effect of upward drifts inside plasma bubbles along similar lines to the earlier hypothesis (Park et al 2008;Krall et al 2010;Huang et al 2014). Nevertheless, other hypotheses put forth by various research workers during recent times have proposed various physical mechanisms regarding the formation of plasma blobs that cannot also be ruled out.…”

Section: October 2001supporting

confidence: 85%

“…Burke et al (2012) have proposed that the upward-moving plasma enhancements (or so-called blobs) might be regarded as Alfvenic images of bottomside irregularities. Huang et al (2014) have proposed a unique mechanism, by effectively using C/NOFS satellite observations, according to which plasma enhancements will be evolved during early, intermediate, and later stages of plasma bubbles at different latitudes and altitudes, which suggest that plasma blobs are intricately coupled with plasma bubbles. At the outset, it can clearly be understood that the presently available database is insufficient to understand the exact physical mechanism responsible for the formation of plasma blobs, although reliable physical mechanisms proposed by various researchers during recent times cannot also be ruled out.…”

Section: October 2001mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Typical comparisons between plasma bubble and blob distributions at different altitudes over the Indian sector using a unique combination of satellite-based observations – a case study

Brahmanandam

Uma

Rajababu

et al. 2014

International Journal of Remote Sensing

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2014) Typical comparisons between plasma bubble and blob distributions at different altitudes over the Indian sector using a unique combination of satellite-based observations -a case studyWe report in this article, for the first time, on the altitudinal variations of ionospheric irregularities during post-sunset hours between 14 and 17 October 2001 at Indian longitudes by using a unique combination of Challenging Mini Satellite Payload (CHAMP), Republic of China Satellite (ROCSAT-1), and Defense Meteorological Satellite Programme (DMSP) satellites located at about 400, 650, and 850 km, respectively. It became possible for us to study the width of plasma bubbles and plasma blobs in the longitudinal (zonal) direction at different altitudes along with temporal variations of ion velocity components in horizontal (V y ) and vertical (V z ) directions as probed by ROCSAT-1 and DMSP satellites. The dominant features noticed in V y and V z components are their anti-correlation relationship at the ROCSAT-1 satellite's altitude (mirroring effect). The most important observation from this study is that plasma bubbles are found to have occurred immediately after post-sunset hours, whereas plasma blobs were observed after three hours following the bubbles' appearance time and continued until pre-sunrise hours at higher altitudes between around ±5°and ±20°from the magnetic equator, which indicate that the plasma blobs emanate from plasma bubbles that generated at the bottomside of the ionospheric F-layer shortly after sunset on similar lines to a few recent research studies. It is therefore believed that the polarized electric fields generated inside plasma bubbles might have played a role in the generation of higher-altitude plasma blobs. Importantly, the calculated power spectra of bubbles and blobs show a nearly equal trend, indicating that they are intricately connected with each other.

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Section: October 2001supporting

confidence: 85%

Section: October 2001mentioning

confidence: 99%

Typical comparisons between plasma bubble and blob distributions at different altitudes over the Indian sector using a unique combination of satellite-based observations – a case study

Brahmanandam

Uma

Rajababu

et al. 2014

International Journal of Remote Sensing

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“…Cases 1 and 2 might be explained by the scenario proposed by Huang et al (2014), which is schematically illustrated in Figure 4. Figures 4a, 4b, and 4c represent the start, intermediate, and fully developed stage of plasma bubbles, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this paper, we use ion density enhancement and ion vertical drift to identify plasma blobs, following Huang et al (2014). ROCSAT-1 was in circular orbit at~600-km height with inclination angle of 35°.…”

Section: Data and Analysis Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plasma blobs are frequently observed in crest regions of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) at altitudes above~250 km (Kil et al, 2011;Le et al, 2003;Park, Stolle, et al, 2008;Pimenta et al, 2004Pimenta et al, , 2007Tardelli-Coelho et al, 2017). EPBs have been detected in situ by many satellites at different heights such as ROCSAT, C/NOFS, CHAMP, DMSP, SWARM, and others (Huang et al, 2014;Le et al, 2003;Xiong et al, 2016). Since the percentage increase in density may depend on plasma flow in the vicinity of the blob, there is no clear threshold of percentage increase in density for blob identification, and density enhancement with different percentage has been used in previous studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plasma Blobs Concurrently Observed With Bubbles in the Asian‐Oceanian Sector During Solar Maximum

et al. 2019

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With simultaneous ionospheric measurements from ROCSAT‐1 satellite and ground ionosondes/GPS receivers, three cases of concurrent plasma blobs and bubbles in the same magnetic meridian were observed around 22:30 LT in Asian‐Oceanian sector during solar maximum. Two cases were observed: equatorial spread F (ESF) over Vanimo station (geog. 2.7°S, 141.3°E; geom. 11.2°S, 146.2°W) and plasma blobs around 8.0°S (geom.) on 1 June and 6 October 2003. The other case observed equatorial spread F over Hainan station (geog. 19.5°N, 109.1°E; geom. 9.1°N, 179.1°W) and plasma blob near the dip equator on 8 March 2004. Plasma blobs were all observed near 600‐km height near the equator. Equatorial spread F and amplitude scintillations from the ground stations were observed near the same magnetic meridian, indicating the existence of bubbles. Considering that both plasma bubbles and blobs are field‐aligned elongated structures, magnetic field line mapping shows that in the two cases at Vanimo, blobs were above bubbles, providing direct observational evidence for blob formation in the intermediate stage of plasma bubble evolution; in the case at Hainan, the blob and bubble were likely at similar height, and it could be generated by gravity wave.

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The causal relationship between plasma bubbles and blobs in the low‐latitude F region during a solar minimum

et al. 2015

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Plasma density depletions (bubbles) and enhancements (blobs) with respect to the background ionosphere occur at night in the low-latitude F region. Those phenomena are understood to be either causally linked or independent. The idea of the causal relationship between bubbles and blobs is on the basis of the observations of them in the same longitude. However, the occurrence of bubbles and blobs in the same longitude can also be just a coincidence. We investigate causal linkage of bubbles and blobs using the measurements of the ion density on 5 days in June 2008 and April 2009 by the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System and CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload satellites. The observations during the solar minimum show that blobs occur in broader longitudes than do bubbles and occur in any longitudes regardless of the existence of bubbles. These observations indicate that a significant portion of blobs are not associated with bubbles. Even if some blobs are associated with bubbles, those blobs are indistinguishable from those produced by other sources. Therefore, the observations of bubbles and blobs at the same longitudes do not warrant their causal relationship. The independent behavior of bubbles and blobs rather indicates that their occurrences in the same longitudes are mostly coincidences. Considering the frequent occurrence of blobs near midnight, June solstice, and the solar minimum, medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances are likely the major source of blobs. This idea is supported by the observations of blobs with the ionospheric disturbances in broad longitudes and latitudes.

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Relationship between plasma bubbles and density enhancements: Observations and interpretation

Cited by 38 publications

References 31 publications

Typical comparisons between plasma bubble and blob distributions at different altitudes over the Indian sector using a unique combination of satellite-based observations – a case study

Typical comparisons between plasma bubble and blob distributions at different altitudes over the Indian sector using a unique combination of satellite-based observations – a case study

Plasma Blobs Concurrently Observed With Bubbles in the Asian‐Oceanian Sector During Solar Maximum

The causal relationship between plasma bubbles and blobs in the low‐latitude F region during a solar minimum

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