Low Latitude Plasma Blobs: A Review

Abstract

In recent years, there has been renewed activity in the study of local plasma density enhancements in the low latitude F region ionosphere (low latitude plasma blobs). Satellite, all-sky airglow imager, and radar measurements have identified the characteristics of these blobs, and their coupling to Equatorial Plasma Bubbles (EPBs). New information related to blobs has also been obtained from the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite. In this paper, we briefly review experimental, theoretical and modeling studies related to low latitude plasma blobs.

Keywords

• plasma blobs
• low latitude ionosphere
• equatorial plasma bubbles