The Origin of Midlatitude Plasma Depletions Detected During the 12 February 2000 and 29 October 2003 Geomagnetic Storms

Abstract

Large amplitude plasma density irregularities have occasionally been detected at night in the midlatitude F region during geomagnetic storms. They are often interpreted in terms of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) because midlatitude irregularities have the morphology of EPBs. This study assesses whether morphology can be a determining factor in ascribing the origin of such midlatitude ionospheric irregularities. We address this question by analyzing the observations of the First Republic of China satellite (ROCSAT‐1) and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)‐F14 and ‐F15 satellites during the geomagnetic storms on 12 February 2000 and 29 October 2003. On both days, ROCSAT‐1 detects plasma depletions at midlatitudes in broad longitude regions and DMSP satellites detect isolated severe plasma depletions whose widths and depths are much wider and deeper than those of typical EPBs. The distinguishing characteristics during the storms are the detection of midlatitude depletions only in the Southern Hemisphere and the occurrence of some of these depletions before 19 hr local time and at the longitudes where EPBs are absent in the equatorial region. These characteristics are not explained satisfactorily by the characteristics of EPBs. Considering the detection of some of the midlatitude depletions at the equatorward edge of ionospheric perturbations in midlatitudes, midlatitude depletions are likely ionospheric perturbations that originated from higher latitudes. Because midlatitude depletions can originate from different sources, the morphology alone is not a determining factor of their origin.

Assessment of the Origin of a Plasma Depletion Band Over the United States During the 8 September 2017 Geomagnetic Storm

“…In the study of Nishimura et al (2021), the TEC depletion band over the US on 8 September 2017 was interpreted as a structure that developed between storm enhanced density (SED) features, indicating the generation of gradient drift instability at the edge of SEDs. This interpretation is aligned with the understanding of midlatitude plasma depletions as local midlatitude phenomena (Chang et al, 2022;Kil et al, 2016Kil et al, , 2022Nishioka et al, 2009;Sahai et al, 2001;Sun et al, 2013).…”