The climatology of ionospheric plasma bubbles and irregularities over Brazil

F. D. Chu (1, 2) , J. Y. Liu (1, 3) , H. Takahashi (4) , J. H. A. Sobral (4) , M. J. Taylor (5) , A. F. Medeiros (6)

1 Institute of Space Science [Taiwan]
2 National Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory
3 CSRSR - Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research [Taïwan]
4 INPE - Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais
5 Space Dynamics Laboratory and Physics Department
6 Departamento de Fisica

In this paper, we examine ionospheric plasma depletions (or bubbles) and irregularities observed by photometers and a ground-based receiver of the global positioning system (GPS) both located in Brazil, South America. A simultaneous observation reveals that when the ionospheric plasma becomes depleted, the GPS total electron content decreases and the associated phase fluctuations grow. Statistical results show that the plasma bubbles and the significant GPS phase fluctuations generally occur during October-March. The solar activity variation is not obvious in either observation except during the equinoctial months. The GPS phase fluctuations suggest that the most pronounced ionospheric irregularities appear between 20:00 and 01:00 LT, which generally agree with previous ionospheric bubble observations.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de la Terre

F. D. Chu, J. Y. Liu, H. Takahashi, J. H. A. Sobral, M. J. Taylor, et al.. The climatology of ionospheric plasma bubbles and irregularities over Brazil. Annales Geophysicae, 2005, 23 (2), pp.379-384. ⟨hal-00317539⟩