Three-dimensional morphology of equatorial plasma bubbles deduced from measurements onboard CHAMP

Park, J.; Lühr, Hermann; Noja, Max

doi:10.5194/angeo-33-129-2015

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…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

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

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

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, it is crucial to obtain the vertical structure of the ionosphere [8]. For this reason, basing on GNSS and radio occultation measurements, a three-dimensional morphology of EPBs was deduced and a tomography method was attempted to reconstruct EPBs in a Brazilian sector [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GNSS Ionosphere Sounding of Equatorial Plasma Bubbles

Hocke²,

et al. 2019

Atmosphere

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ground- and space-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers can provide three-dimensional (3D) information about the occurrence of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs). For this study, we selected March 2014 data (during solar maximum of cycle 24) for the analysis. The timing and the latitudinal dependence of the EPBs occurrence rate are derived by means of the rate of the total electron content (TEC) index (ROTI) data from GNSS receivers in China, whereas vertical profiles of the scintillation index S4 are provided by COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate). The GNSS receivers of the low Earth orbit satellites give information about the occurrence of amplitude scintillations in limb sounding geometry where the focus is on magnetic latitudes from 20° S to 20° N. The occurrence rates of the observed EPB-induced scintillations are generally smaller than those of the EPB-induced ROTI variations. The timing and the latitude dependence of the EPBs occurrence rate agree between the ground-based and spaceborne GNSS data. We find that EPBs occur at 19:00 LT and they are mainly situated above the F2 peak layer which descended from 450 km at 20:00 LT to 300 km at 24:00 LT in the equatorial ionosphere. At the same time, the spaceborne GNSS data also show, for the first time, a high occurrence rate of post-sunset scintillations at 100 km altitude, indicating the coexistence of equatorial sporadic E with EPBs.

show abstract

“…At the low-latitude ionosphere, the equatorial plasma irregularities (EPIs), also often called equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) or equatorial spread-F (ESF), have been a subject of intense research for several decades. Their morphology, including the generation and evolution processes, spatial structures, global distribution, as well as their effects on the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) have widely been investigated by ground-based radars and in situ satellite observations (Tsunoda 1980;Huang et al 2001;Burke et al 2004;Kil et al 2004;Su et al 2006;Stolle et al 2006;Yokoyama et al 2007;Xiong et al 2010Xiong et al , 2012Huang et al 2014;Park et al 2015a). These plasma irregularities usually cover a range of scale sizes, from thousands of kilometers to a few meters (e.g., Zargham and Seyler 1989;Hysell and Seyler 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scale analysis of equatorial plasma irregularities derived from Swarm constellation

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, we investigated the scale sizes of equatorial plasma irregularities (EPIs) using measurements from the Swarm satellites during its early mission and final constellation phases. We found that with longitudinal separation between Swarm satellites larger than 0.4°, no significant correlation was found any more. This result suggests that EPI structures include plasma density scale sizes less than 44 km in the zonal direction. During the Swarm earlier mission phase, clearly better EPI correlations are obtained in the northern hemisphere, implying more fragmented irregularities in the southern hemisphere where the ambient magnetic field is low. The previously reported inverted-C shell structure of EPIs is generally confirmed by the Swarm observations in the northern hemisphere, but with various tilt angles. From the Swarm spacecrafts with zonal separations of about 150 km, we conclude that larger zonal scale sizes of irregularities exist during the early evening hours (around 1900 LT).

show abstract

Three-dimensional morphology of equatorial plasma bubbles deduced from measurements onboard CHAMP

Cited by 11 publications

References 22 publications

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

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

GNSS Ionosphere Sounding of Equatorial Plasma Bubbles

Scale analysis of equatorial plasma irregularities derived from Swarm constellation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About