Ionospheric Plasma Vertical Drift and Zonal Wind Variations Cause Unusual Evolution of EPBs During a Geomagnetically Quiet Night

Abstract

AbstractPrevious studies show equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) mainly occur after sunset and usually drift from west to east. In this work, two EPBs occurred after midnight and lasted to sunrise, and were observed by multi‐instruments (two all‐sky imagers (ASIs), global positioning system, Swarm satellite, and a digisonde) during a geomagnetically quiet night of December 18–19, 2018. Our observations also show that plasma depletion structure (PDS) also occurred at that night. EPBs occurred in the region of PDS and showed a special evolution process during the night. Those PDS gradually disappeared with time, but strip‐like EPBs remained clearly in airglow images. Near sunrise, new PDS appeared to merge with those EPBs to form large PDS. Meanwhile, EPBs showed different zonal drifts within a very narrow longitudinal zone (∼2°). One EPB remained stationary while the other showed a small eastward drift. These results are different from post‐sunset EPBs in previous studies. During the lifetime of those ionospheric plasma irregularities, upward and downward motion of the peak height and virtual height of the ionospheric F region was observed by a digisonde, which indicates that the evolution of EPBs should be related to the vertical drift of ionospheric plasma. Besides, based Thermosphere‐Ionosphere‐Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIE‐GCM) simulations, we suggest the different zonal drifts of those EPBs might related to plasma zonal drifts caused by zonal winds.