Unique Combinations of Differently Shaped Equatorial Plasma Bubbles Occurring Within a Small Longitude Range

Abstract

AbstractOn 12 October 2020 and 26 December 2021, NASA's Global‐scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission observed differently shaped equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) simultaneously within ∼10° longitude, near the subsatellite point and over the Atlantic, respectively which is unusual. On 12 October 2020, three EPBs with differing curvatures were observed in a ∼12° longitude sector. The westside EPB was curved toward the east, in a C‐shape. The middle was straight. The eastside EPB was curved westward, in a reversed C‐shape. In the second case, 26 December 2021, in a smaller longitude range of ∼6° adjacent C‐shaped and reversed C‐shaped EPBs were observed. EPBs' zonal drift velocities at the magnetic equator and both equatorial ionization anomaly crests were compared. These occurrences of oppositely shaped EPBs simultaneously in a narrow longitude may indicate that small‐scale longitudinal variations in the E‐region density, electric field, neutral wind variations, or a combination of them were present.