Identification

Title

Observation and simulation of the development of equatorial plasma bubbles: Post‐sunset rise or upwelling growth?

Abstract

This study investigates the underlying physics of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) on 11 December 2019, under solar minimum conditions. The Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) ultraviolet nightglow images exhibit a periodic distribution of reduced emissions related to EPBs. Remarkably, FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 (F7/C2) observes a significant altitudinal difference of similar to 45 km in the bottomside ionosphere between two nearly collocated electron density profiles before the onset of EPBs, indicating the presence of an upwelling. Distinct ionospheric perturbations are also observed in F7/C2 and ground-based Global Positioning System observations, suggesting that gravity waves may contribute to the upwelling. Simulations with SAMI3/ESF are further carried out to evaluate the upwelling growth and pre-reversal enhancement (PRE) effect on EPB development. Simulations reveal that the crests of upwellings show a localized uplift of similar to 50 km, and EPBs only develop from the crest of upwellings. The uplift altitude of upwellings is comparable to the F7/C2 observations and the post-sunset rise in moderate solar conditions. The polarization electric field (E-p) developed within the upwellings can drive vertical E-p x B drifts of similar to 32-35 m/s, which are comparable to the PRE vertical E x B drifts. We find that the PRE alone cannot drive EPBs without upwelling growth, but it can facilitate the upwelling growth. Observations and simulations allow us to conclude that upwelling growth could play a vital role in the formation of EPBs.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7f47sfj

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

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keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

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East bounding longitude

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Temporal reference

Temporal extent

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End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2020-12-01T00:00:00Z

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Constraints related to access and use

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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

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