Equatorial Plasma Bubbles and Medium-Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbance Interaction Observed by OI 630 nm airglow imaging at Bom Jesus de Lapa, Brazil
C. M. Wrasse, Cosme Alexandre de Oliveira Barros Figueiredo, Diego Barros, H. Takahashi, A. J. Carrasco, Luiz Fillip Rodrigues Vital, L. C. A. Resende, Fábio Egito, Geângelo de Matos Rosa, Antônio Hélder Rodrigues Sampaio
Abstract
OI 630.0 nm airglow observations, from a new observatory at Bom Jesus de Lapa, were used to study the interaction between EPBs (Equatorial Plasma Bubbles) and the MSTID (Medium-Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbance) over the Northeast region in Brazil. On the night of September 16 to 17, 2020, an EPB was observed propagating eastward, in an apparent fossil stage, until it interacted with a dark band electrified MSTID (eMSTID). After the interaction, four EPBs merged, followed by an abrupt southward development and bifurcations. Analysis of the data suggests that an eastward polarization electric field, induced by the dark band eMSTID, forced the EPB into an upward drift, growing latitudinally along the magnetic field lines and then bifurcating.