Plasma bubble in the ionosphere

Michi Nishioka (nishioka@kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp) Department of Geophysics Kyoto University

What is plasma bubble? How is plasma bubble observed? When does plasma bubble occur?

What is plasma bubble?

Plasma density depletion region which appears in the equatorial ionosphere. Generated in the bottom side of the F region after the sunset of the ionosphere through plasma instability. Accompanied by electron density irregularities

Altitude (km)

Radar backscatter map at Julia radar, Peru 50MHz(3m scale) October 22, 1996

[http://jro.igp.gob.pe/]

What is plasma bubble?

Elongated along the geomagnetic field line Observed by radar, satellite, rocket, GPS-receiver etc

Plasma bubble (plasma density depletion region) elongated along the geomagnetic field line [E.R.Young et al, 1984]

How is plasma bubble observed?

Ground-based instruments in the Asian region GPS receiver------Total Electron Content (TEC), Scintillation VHF radar, Ionosonde, HF propagation experiments Airglow imager
GPS receiver (), VHF radar site (), Ionosonde site()

EAR site VHF radar GPS receiver Airglow imager

GPS-TEC observed of the Asian region Plasma bubbleobservation in plasma bubble

TEC and GPS(PRN21) orbit March 24, 2004
Sunset at Alt.100km

SAMP BUKT

NTUS

After the sunset, 5-20 TECU [1TECU=1016electron/m2] depletions were observed at BUKT, SAMP and NTUS. The depletions are plasma bubbles. Plasma disturbances cause loss-of-lock of the GPS radio wave at the ground-based stations.

Plasma bubblefluctuations in plasma bubble GPS-TEC observed of the Asian region

TEC on March 24, 2004

Rate of TEC change index (ROTI), which is standard deviation of temporal variation of TEC for 5 min, measures TEC fluctuations whose spatial scale is 10-100km. ROTI enhanced at BUKT, SAMP and NTUS. ROTI is a good index for plasma bubble activity using ground-based GPS receiver data.

ROTI March 24, 2004

GPS-scintillation caused by plasma bubble

Amplitude scintillation of GPS radio wave is caused by 300m scale size irregularity. GPS-Scintillation activity is represented by S4 index, which is the normalized standard deviation of signal intensity.
S4 index at Kototabang March 24, 2004

GPS-Scintillation occurred in the TEC depletion region.

TEC at Bukit Tinggi March 24,2004

VHF radar observation

Equatorial Atmosphere Radar (EAR )
Location : 100.32 E, 0.20 S Frequency: 47.0MHz Antenna System: Quasi-circular active phased array Beam Direction: 30deg zenith (Ionospheric irregularity) Observation Range: 1.5km-20km(Atmosphere) 80km- (Ionospheric irregularity)

Field of view

3m-scale Ionospheric irregularities observed by EAR

Echo from irregularity March 24, 2004

Plasma bubble occurred around 20:00 LT. Several echoes appeared and drifted eastward In the speed of 100-150m/s

trajectory of PRN 21 which observed plasma bubble

TEC depletion was observed around LT20:00 where 3m-scale irregularity was seen. 3m-scale irregularity is accompanied by plasma bubble.

Airglow observation in the Asian region

630nm airglow measurements are conducted with all sky cameras at Sata, Yonaguni, Kototabang, and Darwin.
Sata Yonaguni

Its intensity is propotional to the electron density around 250km altitude.

Kototabang

Darwin Airglow At Kototabang March 25, 2004

1700km Altitude All-sky images taken at Sata and Darwin on November 12, 2001 [Courtesy of Y.Otsuka] Sata

Geomagnetic Field

Darwin

Simultaneous observation at the geomagnetic conjugate points indicate plasma bubble elongates along the geomagnetic field lines. The maximum altitude is 1,700km on the equator.

Answers of

What is plasma bubble? How is plasma bubble observed?

Plasma bubble is plasma density depletion region which is generated by plasma instability in the equatorial ionosphere after the sunset. TEC depletions of 5-20TECU were observed when plasma bubble appeared. Various scales of plasma irregularities were observed inside of plasma bubbles using GPS TEC data (10-100km), scintillation data (300m), VHF radar (3m). Plasma density depletions over 200km were observed with 630nm airglow measurements. It was elongated along the geomagnetic field.

Problem about plasma bubble

What process works for plasma bubble generation?

Occurrence of plasma bubble has various temporal and spatial variation. The complicated behavior of occurrence makes it difficult to understand the generation process of plasma bubble. It is necessary to reveal the complicated variations of plasma bubble occurrence in order to understand its generation process. GPS receiver networks, which provide global and continuous data, are powerful tools to investigate the occurrence rate of plasma bubble in detail. Investigate plasma bubble occurrences using ground-based GPS-TEC data which is global and continuous.

When does plasma bubble occur?

TEC and ROTI at SAMP, West Sumatra, April 1, 2003

ROTI in the nighttime is used to detect plasma bubble at one station for one day. Even if scintillation occurs, plasma bubble can be easily found.

Longitudinal dependence of plasma bubble occurrence

Guam

Bubble day
Philippines Singapore Indonesia India Feb 29 Occurrence of plasma bubble 29 Feb- 29 April, 2004 with stations below April 29

No-bubble day

Daily variation was seen in occurrence plasma bubble. 2-5 day period was typical. Occurrence in Singapore and Indonesia is well correlated.

Latitudinal dependence of plasma bubble occurrence

Monthly occurrence rate of plasma bubble in 2004 No data

Occurrence rate was maximum around equinox seasons. Seasonal variation showed common features. Occurrence rate decreased with increase of magnetic latitude.

Yearly variation of plasma bubble occurrence

Monthly occurrence rate of plasma bubble at Indonesia, 2000-2005

Seasonal variation was repeated in every year.

No data

Occurrence rate was decreasing year by year.

Occurrence properties of plasma bubble Summary and Further study

GPS-TEC is powerful data-set to study occurrence of plasma bubble. Day-to-day variation of plasma bubble is seen around vernal equinox in 2004, in the Asian region. The period is 2-5 days. Seasonal variation of occurrence rate is seen in the equatorial region; two maxima are around equinoxes. Moreover, occurrence rate depends on magnetic latitude and longitude. Plasma bubble has yearly variation. Occurrence rate is decreasing from 2000 to 2005. Parameters which control plasma bubbles occurrence is not clear. It is required to investigate its temporal and spatial variation in more detail in order to understand the generation process.

Longitudinal dependence of plasma bubble occurrence Occurrence was maximum around equinox seasons. Asymmetry between equinoxes was found; Vernal > Autumn in Indonesia and Singapore Asymmetry between solstices was clearly seen; December > June in India. Occurrence in Singapore and Indonesia is well correlated.