Identification

Title

Investigation of the physical mechanisms of the formation and evolution of equatorial plasma bubbles during a moderate storm on 17 September 2021

Abstract

We investigate in detail the occurrence and evolution of ionospheric equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) during a moderate storm on 17 September 2021, using Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) observations and Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model-eXtended (WACCM-X) simulations. GOLD observations show that there were no EPBs on 16 September before the storm but EPBs occurred after the storm commencement on 17 September. The EPBs extended to similar to 30 degrees magnetic latitude. A diagnostic analysis of WACCM-X simulations reveals that the rapid enhancement of prompt penetration electric fields (PPEFs) after the sudden storm commencement is the main reason that triggered the occurrence of the EPBs. Further quantitative analysis shows that vertical plasma drifts, which are enhanced by the PPEF, played a dominant role in strengthening the Rayleigh-Taylor instability, leading to the occurrence of the EPBs and the large latitudinal extension of the EPBs to similar to 30 degrees magnetic latitude during the night of 17 September.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d71j9fvz

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2023-12-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact