First Measurement From the Geostationary Orbit of the Equatorial Plasma Bubble (EPB) Characteristics Using GOLD Data
Abstract
Equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) is an interesting night time plasma irregularity phenomenon that occurs over the equatorial- and low-latitude ionosphere. After the sunset, plasma density irregularities can occur at the bottom side of the F-region. When they are unstable, they can grow rapidly and upwell to higher altitudes. Observations from the ground using ionosonde, GPS, and all sky imagers, as well as from space-based platforms using far-ultraviolet imagers have been carried out to track the movement of EPBs. However, previous measurements from space-based platforms had limited temporal resolution, whereas ground-based measurements are limited in the spatial coverage. Comprehensive, global-scale studies of these phenomena are now possible using Far-Ultraviolet images obtained from geostationary orbit by the Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD). The nighttime OI 135.6 nm images obtained by GOLD can observe the EPBs at a location in its field-of-view for more than an hour. Moreover, on each night GOLD can image the EPBs over the American, Atlantic, and African longitude sectors. These unique data set are used to derive the zonal drifts and, for the first time, compare expansion rates of the EPBs in both latitude and longitude, as a function of longitude. This allows us to understand the underlying processes that form the night time plasma irregularities.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMSA43A..02K
- Keywords:
-
- 2415 Equatorial ionosphere;
- IONOSPHERE;
- 2431 Ionosphere/magnetosphere interactions;
- IONOSPHERE;
- 6969 Remote sensing;
- RADIO SCIENCE;
- 7944 Ionospheric effects on radio waves;
- SPACE WEATHER