Identification

Title

Multi-instrumental observation of storm-induced ionospheric plasma bubbles at equatorial and middle latitudes

Abstract

June solstice is considered as a period with the lowest probability to observe typical equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) in the postsunset period. The severe geomagnetic storm on 22-23 June 2015 has drastically changed the situation. Penetrating electric fields associated with a long-lasting southward IMF support favorable conditions for postsunset EPBs generation in the dusk equatorial ionosphere for several hours. As a result, the storm-induced EPBs were progressively developed over a great longitudinal range following the sunset terminator. The affected area has a large longitudinal range of similar to 100 degrees in the American sector and a rather localized zone of similar to 20 degrees in longitude in the African sector. Plasma depletions of equatorial origin were registered at midlatitudes (30 degrees-40 degrees magnetic latitude) of both hemispheres in the African and American longitudinal sectors. We examine global features of the large-scale plasma depletion by using a combination of ground-based and space-borne measurements-ground-based Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System (GPS/GNSS) networks, Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) GPS Radio Occultation (RO), Swarm upward looking GPS data, and in situ plasma density observations provided by Swarm, Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS), and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) missions. Joint analysis of the satellite observations revealed that these storm-induced EPBs structures had extended over 500 km in altitude, at least from similar to 350 to similar to 850 km. These irregularities caused strong amplitude and phase scintillations of GPS/GNSS signals for ground-based and space-borne (COSMIC RO) measurements and seriously affected performance of navigation-based services.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7dn4841

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

2019-03-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

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Conformity

Data format

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version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Copyright 2019 American Geophysical Union.

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

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 date

2025-07-11T19:30:43.118885

Metadata language

eng; USA