Equatorial-Low-Latitude Plasma Bubble Dynamics: Recent Observations and Simulations

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Upper Atmosphere".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2023) | Viewed by 4283

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Dvision of Helophysics, Planetary Science and Aeronomy, National Institute of Space Research, São José dos Campos 78055-840, SP, Brazil
Interests: computational modeling of atmospheric and plasma waves and instabilities; atmospheric and ionospheric seismology; study of traveling atmospheric and ionospheric disturbances
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E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dvision of Helophysics, Planetary Science and Aeronomy, National Institute of Space Research, São José dos Campos 78055-840, SP, Brazil
Interests: space weather; geomagnetic storms; ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling; ionospheric irregularities; sudden stratospheric warming

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plasma bubbles are robust plasma disturbances in the equatorial-low-latitude ionospheric F region that cause significant density depletion and electric field during the evening and nighttime. Their presence causes the range and frequency spread and scintillations in radio waves. Several studies during the past five decades focused on the generation and evolutionary phase of plasma bubbles and found their energetics to be the result of the combined action of multi-parametric large-scale-wave structures, traveling-ionospheric disturbances, and gradient-driven plasma instabilities. In recent years, the focus has shifted from well-understood long-term forecasting or variability, such as seasonal and solar-flux variability, to unresolved short-term forecasting/variability, namely, the day-to-day variability in the occurrence of plasma bubbles. These studies have shown the complex nature of large-scale-wave structures and traveling-ionospheric disturbance energetics, and their impact on plasma instabilities are responsible for short-term variability. Moreover, concurrent observational and simulation studies of these energetics may offer an efficient framework for short-term forecasting. This Special Issue focuses on the observation and simulation studies of large-scale-wave structures, traveling-ionospheric disturbances, and gradient-driven plasma instabilities to decode the role of these energetics in the day-to-day variability of plasma bubbles and possible short-term forecasting. The Special Issue invites research works on the following topics:

  1. Role of large-scale-wave structures (LSWS) and traveling-ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) on short-term variability of plasma bubbles,
  2. Impact of vertical and latitudinal coupling of LSWS, TIDs, and plasma bubble energetics on short-term variability of plasma bubbles,
  3. Off-equatorial plasma bubble energetics,
  4. Near-real-time monitoring of plasma bubble energetics from observations and simulation studies,
  5. Methodology for plasma bubble forecasting, based on observations and simulation studies of LSWS, TIDs, and plasma bubbles.

Dr. Esfhan Alam Kherani
Dr. Rodolfo de Jesus
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • ionospheric plasma plumes/bubbles
  • traveling ionospheric disturbances
  • atmospheric waves
  • large-scale-wave structures
  • coherent back-scatter radar
  • total electron content measurements
  • all-sky airglow imaging photometers
  • gradient-driven ionospheric plasma instability
  • altitudinal and latitudinal electro-dynamical coupling

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 6127 KiB  
Article
Occurrence Characteristics of VHF Scintillation and Equatorial Spread F over Kwajalein during Moderate Solar Activity in 2012
by Chao-Song Huang
Atmosphere 2023, 14(5), 889; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14050889 - 19 May 2023
Viewed by 1247
Abstract
The occurrence probability of equatorial plasma bubbles and the associated spread F (ESF) irregularities have been derived from ground-based and space-borne measurements. In general, ESF occurrence depends on season and longitude and is high in equinoctial months and low around June solstice. In [...] Read more.
The occurrence probability of equatorial plasma bubbles and the associated spread F (ESF) irregularities have been derived from ground-based and space-borne measurements. In general, ESF occurrence depends on season and longitude and is high in equinoctial months and low around June solstice. In the West Pacific sector, previous statistical results show that the ESF occurrence probability increases gradually and continuously from March to August. In this study, we use trans-ionospheric VHF data received at Kwajalein Atoll in 2012 to derive the occurrence characteristics of scintillation. It is found that the occurrence probability of strong scintillation had two maxima in June and September and a minimum in July in the evening and midnight sector but only one maximum in June in the post-midnight sector. The monthly variations of scintillation occurrence at Kwajalein are different from almost all previous studies on ESF and scintillation at or near this longitude. To identify the cause for the June peak and the July minimum of scintillation, the ion density and velocity data measured by the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite in 2011–2012 are used to derive the ESF occurrence and the post-sunset vertical ion drift near Kwajalein. The ESF occurrence probability and the ion drift measured by the C/NOFS satellite showed two maxima in May/June and August/September and a minimum in July, verifying that the June peak and the July minimum of the VHF scintillation are realistic and caused by the similar variations in the ionospheric ion drift and density. Full article
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15 pages, 4351 KiB  
Article
Airglow Imaging Observations of Plasma Blobs: Merging and Bifurcation during Solar Minimum over Tropical Region
by Micheal O. Adebayo, Alexandre A. Pimenta, Siomel Savio and Prosper K. Nyassor
Atmosphere 2023, 14(3), 514; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14030514 - 7 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2252
Abstract
Plasma blobs are night-time ionospheric irregularities whose generation mechanism is still under investigation. A large number of observations highlighted several aspects of their morphology and dynamics. However, the plasma blobs have not been attributed convincingly to a known mechanism. We analyzed the OI [...] Read more.
Plasma blobs are night-time ionospheric irregularities whose generation mechanism is still under investigation. A large number of observations highlighted several aspects of their morphology and dynamics. However, the plasma blobs have not been attributed convincingly to a known mechanism. We analyzed the OI 630.0 nm emission images during March and October of 2019 and 2020 (minimum solar activity) using the ground-based all-sky imager at ZF-2 (2.58° S, 60.22° W) in the Amazon region of Brazil. The novelties of the present study are the rarely reported observation of both plasma blob merging and bifurcation. We studied the evolutional dynamics of plasma blobs and observed that blobs are distinct phenomena with unique properties. We attribute the merging of plasma blobs to the “wind reversion effect” (WRE) mechanism caused by a change in the direction of the zonal thermospheric wind from east to west. In some cases, the slower-drifting plasma blobs may merge with the faster ones. Moreover, blobs were observed initially bifurcating at the topside and later divided into two. The activity of the polarized electric field inside the plasma bubble mapping along the magnetic field lines is possibly responsible for the blob’s bifurcation. Subjecting the two features of ionospheric plasma blobs to simulation may reveal further the physics of blobs’ merging and bifurcation. Full article
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