Advantages and disadvantages of VTEC, ROTI and airglow images in studying equatorial plasma bubbles

Abstract

Equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) are large-scale plasma depletion structures, observed near the geomagnetic equator and in low-latitude regions after sunset. Several instruments have been employed to study EPBs, such as ionosondes, in situ satellites, coherent and incoherent scatter radars, airglow imagers, GNSS radio occultation, and GNSS ground-based stations. Among these instruments, Total Electron Content (TEC) and Rate of TEC change Index (ROTI) data derived by GNSS measurements are presenting as outstanding data sources to study the climatology of EPBs. In this study, we evaluate the reliability of TEC and ROTI index for mapping ionospheric plasma bubble structures in comparison to airglow images, demonstrating the performance of each technique and highlighting their respective advantages and disadvantages. The results demonstrate that TEC and ROTI time series are effective to identify plasma bubble occurrence in terms of temporal profiles, horizontal maps, and keograms for EPB velocity estimation. In terms of ionospheric temporal profiles, all techniques presented a good correspondence, TEC data may present direct characteristics of plasma bubbles, i.e., the intensity of the electron density depletions, while ROTI values are more suitable to present the occurrence, or not, of plasma bubbles. TEC maps showed advantages in mapping the horizontal distributions of EPBs, specially at the equatorial regions where ROTI failed to detect disturbances. Velocity estimates based on keograms from airglow data averaged 111 m/s, while TEC and ROTI index averaged 106 m/s and 107 m/s, respectively. Overall, TEC data presented better estimates of velocities due to the geometric and physical information, while ROTI offers statistical insights that often mask the natural propagation of EPBs.