Equatorial plasma bubble intensities across longitudinal sectors of the globe using GNSS observations

Abstract

We present the first investigation of Equatorial Plasma Bubble (EPB) intensities across longitudinal sectors of the globe using observations from global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers. GNSS data from a total of 93 receiver stations located within ±20 degrees of the geomagnetic equator across the globe were used. The data covered periods of years 2014 and 2019 which are respectively years of high and low solar activity in solar cycle 24. We define a parameter known as the Standard deviation of Residual TEC (SRT) to characterize the EPB intensities. The EPB occurrence was defined by day-night differences of the rate of change of TEC index (ROTI). We observed a high correlation (r ∼ 0.80) between the magnitudes of the SRT and ROTI during the EPB occurrence, but the correlation is low (r ∼ 0.37) during non occurrence of EPB. The EPB intensities are greater during seasons with high occurrence rates. The EPB intensities and occurrence rates are also greater during the high solar activity. We found that the post-sunset intensities are greatest in the Atlantic region, followed by the African region, then the American, Australian, Asian, and Pacific regions in that order. The post-midnight intensities are greatest in the African region, followed by the Atlantic, American, Australian, Asian, and Pacific regions in that order.