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Modeling the Day-to-Day Variability of Midnight Equatorial Plasma Bubbles with SAMI3/WACCM-X
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  • Min-Yang Chou,
  • Jia Yue,
  • Fabrizio Sassi,
  • Joseph Huba,
  • Sarah E McDonald,
  • Jennifer L Tate,
  • Nicholas Pedatella,
  • Cora E Randall,
  • Lynn Harvey
Min-Yang Chou
Goddard Space Flight Center

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Jia Yue
Goddard Space Flight Center
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Fabrizio Sassi
Naval Research Laboratory
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Joseph Huba
Syntek Technologies
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Sarah E McDonald
Naval Research Laboratory
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Jennifer L Tate
Computational Physics, Inc.
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Nicholas Pedatella
National Center for Atmospheric Research
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Cora E Randall
University of Colorado Boulder
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Lynn Harvey
University of Colorado
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Abstract

It is well-known that equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) are highly correlated to the post-sunset rise of the ionosphere on a climatological basis. However, when proceeding to the daily EPB development, what controls the day-to-day/longitudinal variability of EPBs remains a puzzle. In this study, we investigate the underlying physics responsible for the day-to-day/longitudinal variability of EPBs using the Sami3 is A Model of the Ionosphere (SAMI3) and the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere-ionosphere eXtension (WACCM-X). Simulation results on October 20, 22, and 24, 2020 were presented. SAMI3/WACCM-X self-consistently generated midnight EPBs on October 20 and 24, displaying irregular and regular spatial distributions, respectively. However, EPBs are absent on October 22. We investigate the role of gravity waves on upwelling growth and EPB development and discuss how gravity waves contribute to the distributions of EPBs. Of particular significance is that we found the westward wind associated with solar terminator waves and gravity waves causes midnight vertical drift enhancement and collisional shear instability, which provides conditions favorable for upwelling growth and EPB development. The converging and diverging winds associated with solar terminator waves and midnight temperature maximum also affect the longitudinal distribution of EPBs. The absence of EPBs on October 22 is related to the weak upward drift induced by weak westward wind associated with solar terminator waves.
26 Dec 2022Submitted to ESS Open Archive
27 Dec 2022Published in ESS Open Archive