Temporal Evolution of Low‐Latitude Plasma Blobs Identified From Multiple Measurements: ICON, GOLD, and Madrigal TEC
Name
JGR Space Physics - 2022 - Park - Temporal Evolution of Low‐Latitude Plasma Blobs Identified From Multiple Measurements .pdf
Description
Published version
Size
5.54 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e1ea168014a098842fc16d22c0adb7ed
Author(s)
Park, Jaeheung
Huang, Chao‐Song
Eastes, Richard W
Coster, Anthea J
Date Issued
March 7, 2022
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Citation
Park, J., Huang, C.-S., Eastes, R. W., & Coster, A. J. (2022). Temporal evolution of low-latitude plasma blobs identified from multiple measurements: ICON, GOLD, and Madrigal TEC. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 127, e2021JA029992.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Low‐latitude plasma blobs have been studied since their first being reported in 1986. However, investigations on temporal evolution of a blob or on continental scale (>2,000 km) ionospheric contexts around it are relatively rare. Overcoming these limitations can help elucidate the blob generation mechanisms. On 21 January 2021, the Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite encountered a typical low‐latitude blob near the northeastern coast of South America. The event was collocated with a local enhancement in 135.6 nm nightglow at the poleward edge of an equatorial plasma bubble (EPB), as observed by the Global‐scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) imager. Total electron content maps from the Global Navigation Satellite System confirm the GOLD observations. Unlike typical medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs), the blob had neither well‐organized wavefronts nor moved in the southwest direction. Neither was the blob a monotonically decaying equatorial ionization anomaly crest past sunset. Rather, the blob varied following latitudinal expansion/contraction of EPBs at similar magnetic longitudes. The observational results support that mechanisms other than MSTIDs, such as EPBs, can also contribute to blob generation.
MIT Department
Haystack Observatory
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021ja029992
