Observations of equatorial plasma bubbles during the geomagnetic storm of October 2016

Abstract

We investigated the variations of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) in the East-Asian sector during a strong geomagnetic storm in October 2016, based on observations from the Beidou geostationary (GEO) satellites, Swarm satellite and ground-based ionosonde. Significant nighttime depletions of F region in situ electron density from Swarm and obvious nighttime EPBs in the Beidou GEO observations were observed on 13 October 2016 during the main phase. Moreover, one interesting feature is that the rare and unique sunrise EPBs were triggered on 14 October 2016 in the main phase rather than during the recovery phase as reported by previous studies. In addition, the nighttime EPBs were suppressed during the whole recovery phase, and absent from 14 to 19 October 2016. Meanwhile, the minimum virtual height of F trace (h’F) at Sanya (18.3°N, 109.6°E, MLAT 11.1°N) displayed obvious changes during these intervals. The h’F was enhanced in the main phase and declined during the recovery phase, compared with the values at pre- and post-storm. These results indicate that the enhanced nighttime EPBs and sunrise EPBs during the main phase and the absence nighttime EPBs for many days during the recovery phase could be associated with storm-time electric field changes.