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A Unique Combination of Equatorial Plasma Bubble Morphologies Occurring Within a 12 deg Longitude Range
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  • Deepak Kumar Karan,
  • Richard W Eastes,
  • Carlos Martinis,
  • Robert Edward Daniell,
  • Stanley C. Solomon,
  • William E. McClintock
Deepak Kumar Karan
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Richard W Eastes
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
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Carlos Martinis
Boston University
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Robert Edward Daniell
Ionospheric Physics Consulting
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Stanley C. Solomon
National Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
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William E. McClintock
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
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Abstract

On 12 October 2020, the NASA’s Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission observed three differently shaped EPBs within a 12o longitude range, near the subsatellite point. One is straight aligned to the magnetic field line, whereas the poleward extensions of the others are tilted eastward and westward from the magnetic field line resembling a C-shape and reversed C-shape structures. These EPBs were inside the GOLD imager’s field-of-view for a period of ~3 hours. This allowed us to compute their zonal motion and determine their drift velocities. EPBs’ drift velocities were derived from measuring their longitudinal shifts at the magnetic equator and at both EIA crests. This unique observation, showing three morphologies in a narrow longitude sector, indicates the occurrence of strong longitudinal gradients in the typical parameters associated with the dynamics of EPBs, like neutral winds, electric fields, or other parameters within such a narrow longitude range.