All Physics Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Earth, Planets and Space
Volume
68
Issue
121
Publisher
Springer Open
Publication Date
7-15-2016
First Page
1
Last Page
12
Abstract
In this study, we investigated the scale sizes of equatorial plasma irregularities (EPIs) using measurements from the Swarm satellites during its early mission and final constellation phases. We found that with longitudinal separation between Swarm satellites larger than 0.4°, no significant correlation was found any more. This result suggests that EPI structures include plasma density scale sizes less than 44 km in the zonal direction. During the Swarm earlier mission phase, clearly better EPI correlations are obtained in the northern hemisphere, implying more fragmented irregularities in the southern hemisphere where the ambient magnetic field is low. The previously reported inverted-C shell structure of EPIs is generally confirmed by the Swarm observations in the northern hemisphere, but with various tilt angles. From the Swarm spacecrafts with zonal separations of about 150 km, we conclude that larger zonal scale sizes of irregularities exist during the early evening hours (around 1900 LT).
Recommended Citation
Xiong, Chao; Stolle, Claudia; Lühr, Hermann; Park, Jaeheung; Fejer, B. G.; and Kervalishvili, Guram N., "Scale analysis of equatorial plasma irregularities derived from Swarm constellation" (2016). All Physics Faculty Publications. Paper 2035.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/physics_facpub/2035
