A Study of the Topside Plasma Blob and Adjacent Bubble Near Sunrise in Low-Latitude Ionosphere During the Main Phase of August 2003 Storm

Abstract

In this paper, a plasma blob and an adjacent plasma bubble in low-latitude region at 245°E region near sunrise recorded by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F13 satellite around 840 km on 18 August 2003 were presented. On the previous local night, the blob and adjacent bubble at 265°E region were also detected by the first satellite of the Republic of China (ROCSAT-1) at about 600 km. Total Electron Content (TEC) derived from ground-global positioning system (GPS) measurements also showed both the evident enhancements and the decreases adjacent to the enhancements, at one low-latitude station near 265°E region. Based on the characteristics of the blob, we conclude that the blob and adjacent bubble near sunrise recorded by DMSP were the remnant of the blob and bubble formed on the previous night, which were detected by ROCSAT-1 satellite and ground-based TEC variations. The long duration of the blob and bubble during storm main phase may be related to the prompt penetration electric field.

Keywords

• Plasma blob
• plasma bubble
• low-latitude ionosphere
• daytime
• storm