Why Do Equatorial Plasma Bubbles Bifurcate?
A. J. Carrasco, A. A. Pimenta, C. M. Wrasse, I. S. Batista, H. Takahashi
Abstract
Abstract 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).