Identification

Title

Climatology of the equatorial plasma bubbles captured by FORMOSAT‐3/COSMIC

Abstract

The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3/C) satellites are used to study the climatology of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) during the low to moderate solar flux years (2008-2013). We use the F3/C total electron content to identify the presence of EPBs and investigate the background conditions for the initiation of EPBs. The results reveal that the EPB activities have strong solar dependence. The longitudinal and seasonal trends of EPBs are highly correlated to the angle between the dusk solar terminator and magnetic field lines near the magnetic equator. Asymmetries of EPBs between solstices and equinoxes exist and could be due partly to the asymmetry of equatorial ionization anomaly structures, which result in longitudinal differences as well. EPBs extend to higher altitudes and latitudes during the ascending phase of Solar Cycle 24 (2011-2013) due mainly to the increase of background electron density. However, an altitudinal asymmetry of EPBs occurs in moderate solar flux years, which is likely due to the suppression or lower growth and occurrence rates of EPBs. In addition to vertical drift, tidal forcing also contributes to the longitudinal and seasonal distributions of EPBs. Upwellings and precursor waves preceding the EPBs are observed climatologically, which likely play a vital role in initiating the EPBs. This study also reveals a vertical connection between the equatorial ionospheric irregularities and atmospheric forcing on a climatological basis.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d76q21gp

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

2020-05-16T00:00:00Z

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