Why Do Equatorial Plasma Bubbles Bifurcate?

Ionospheric plasma bubble observations using all‐sky airglow imagers in the OI 630‐nm emission show bifurcations with complex patterns. Bifurcation is the division of one channel of the plasma bubble into two that grow vertically in the magnetic equator. Several theories have been suggested to expla...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geophysical research. Space physics 2020-11, Vol.125 (11), p.n/a
Main Authors: Carrasco, A. J., Pimenta, A. A., Wrasse, C. M., Batista, I. S., Takahashi, H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Airglow
bifurcation
Bifurcation theory
Bubbles
Electric fields
Ionosphere
Ionospheric plasma
Magnetic equator
Mathematical models
Nonlinear growth
Numerical simulations
Plasma
Plasma bubble
Plasma bubbles
Simulation
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Summary:Ionospheric plasma bubble observations using all‐sky airglow imagers in the OI 630‐nm emission show bifurcations with complex patterns. Bifurcation is the division of one channel of the plasma bubble into two that grow vertically in the magnetic equator. Several theories have been suggested to explain the bifurcation mechanism. In this work we use a plasma bubble simulation code to examine these theories. The model used shows that the height where the bifurcation occurs is conditioned by the polarization electric fields inside the bubble. The numerical simulation produced plasma bubbles with complex ramifications which agree with the observations taken at São João do Cariri (7.4°S, 36.5°W). Key Points Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the bifurcation observed in plasma bubbles Simulation results are used to study the bifurcation phenomenon observed in plasma bubbles The results show that the bifurcation of the plasma bubble is initiated when Ez/Ex = 1
ISSN:2169-9380
2169-9402
DOI:10.1029/2020JA028609