On the importance of wave-like structures in the occurrence of equatorial plasma bubbles: A case study

Coordinated observations of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) have been made with an all‐sky airglow imager, narrow bandwidth photometer, VHF radar, and ionosonde over the Indian sector on the night of 23 March 2009. The prereversal enhancement (PRE) in the vertical plasma drift during the postsunset hours on this day was moderate. Range type spread F was found to occur immediately after the satellite traces were noted in the ionograms. This was well recorded in measurements made by all‐sky imager, narrow band photometer, and VHF radar. The airglow emission intensities also revealed the presence of a large‐scale wave‐like structure (LSWS) together with the plasma bubbles that coincided with plume structures observed in the VHF radar echoes. The periodicity of the occurrence of bubbles (and plumes) and their interdepletion distances suggest the presence of small‐scale wave‐like structures (SSWS) on this night. The results are compared with the ionosonde observations made on the night of 21 February 2008. The PRE and the maximum height attained by the F layer were very similar to that of 23 March 2009. In addition, the ionograms showed the presence of satellite traces. However, no subsequent evolution of spread F was noticed. Considering the satellite traces to have their origin in LSWS, these observations imply that though the presence of LSWS is important for the triggering of EPBs, they alone are not sufficient. However, the coexistence of both LSWS and SSWS may have the potential to trigger EPBs. Key Points Two wave‐like features appeared to have triggered formation of plasma bubbles Plasma bubbles formed only within the regions of upward moving plasma LSWS alone may not be sufficient enough to trigger plasma bubbles