Plasma bubble zonal drift characteristics observed by airglow images over Brazilian tropical region

• Autor(a) principal: Paulino,Igo
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Medeiros,Amauri Fragoso de, Buriti,Ricardo Arlen, Takahashi,Hisao, Sobral,José Humberto Andrade, Gobbi,Delano
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Geofísica (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-261X2011000200003
• topic: plasma bubble; airglow; ionosphere

Using airglow images observed at São João do Cariri (7.4ºS, 36.5ºW; dip angle: -11ºS) from September 2000 to April 2007, plasma bubblezonal drifts for ninety-seven geomagnetically quiet nights (Dst index higher than -30 nT) were calculated. The plasma bubble eastward averaged drifts presented an increase from 18:00 to 22:00 local time (LT), and followed by a deceleration. The plasma bubbles observed during high solar activity were faster after 22:00 LT. Eastward drifts observed during the summer, after 21:00 LT, were higher than drifts observed during the equinox months. Few nights had plasma bubble eastward drifts higher than 100 m/s and almost all bubbles disappeared after 02:00 LT. Averaged zonal drifts observed between -9.5 and -5.5ºS were almost constant, primarily,around 23:00 LT.