Evolution processes of a group of equatorial plasma bubble (EPBs) simultaneously observed by ground‐based and satellite measurements in the equatorial region of China

Abstract

AbstractThis paper for the first time reports conjugate observations of a group of evolving equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) generated in the longitudinal sector of China on 4/5 November 2013 using simultaneous airglow and Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) observations. The airglow depletion structures seen by two all‐sky airglow imagers had the same zonal wavelength as that of the longitudinally periodic electron density depletions observed by the C/NOFS satellite which occurred at almost the same time but at magnetically conjugate latitudes. Data from a VHF radar and a Digisonde were combined to investigate the evolution of the EPB group, including their generation, development, and dissipation. Results indicate that the EPB group developed from the bottomside large‐scale wave‐like structure (LSWS) at about 195–210 km height with a characteristic zonal wavelength and longitudinal extension of about 450 km and 2250 km, respectively. The EPB group also caused periodic bottomside type spread F associated with the LSWS. We found that the development of the EPB group and their associated spread F could be limited by the equatorward motion of equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) and the southwestward motion of an extremely bright airglow region (SMEBAR). The SMEBAR is a newly discovered structure of plasma density increase but not a plasma blob reported before. Both EIA and SMEBAR could feed high plasma density into an EPB airglow depletion structure that was eventually seen as a bright airglow structure or disappeared. Meanwhile, spread F associated with the EPBs did not evolve from the bottomside type into the strong range type.