Equatorial-Low-Latitude Plasma Bubble Dynamics: Recent Observations and Simulations

Dear Colleagues,

Plasma bubbles are robust plasma disturbances in the equatorial-low-latitude ionospheric F region that cause significant density depletion and electric field during the evening and nighttime. Their presence causes the range and frequency spread and scintillations in radio waves. Several studies during the past five decades focused on the generation and evolutionary phase of plasma bubbles and found their energetics to be the result of the combined action of multi-parametric large-scale-wave structures, traveling-ionospheric disturbances, and gradient-driven plasma instabilities. In recent years, the focus has shifted from well-understood long-term forecasting or variability, such as seasonal and solar-flux variability, to unresolved short-term forecasting/variability, namely, the day-to-day variability in the occurrence of plasma bubbles. These studies have shown the complex nature of large-scale-wave structures and traveling-ionospheric disturbance energetics, and their impact on plasma instabilities are responsible for short-term variability. Moreover, concurrent observational and simulation studies of these energetics may offer an efficient framework for short-term forecasting. This Special Issue focuses on the observation and simulation studies of large-scale-wave structures, traveling-ionospheric disturbances, and gradient-driven plasma instabilities to decode the role of these energetics in the day-to-day variability of plasma bubbles and possible short-term forecasting. The Special Issue invites research works on the following topics:

1. Role of large-scale-wave structures (LSWS) and traveling-ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) on short-term variability of plasma bubbles,
2. Impact of vertical and latitudinal coupling of LSWS, TIDs, and plasma bubble energetics on short-term variability of plasma bubbles,
3. Off-equatorial plasma bubble energetics,
4. Near-real-time monitoring of plasma bubble energetics from observations and simulation studies,
5. Methodology for plasma bubble forecasting, based on observations and simulation studies of LSWS, TIDs, and plasma bubbles.

Dr. Esfhan Alam Kherani
Dr. Rodolfo de Jesus
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• ionospheric plasma plumes/bubbles
• traveling ionospheric disturbances
• atmospheric waves
• large-scale-wave structures
• coherent back-scatter radar
• total electron content measurements
• all-sky airglow imaging photometers
• gradient-driven ionospheric plasma instability
• altitudinal and latitudinal electro-dynamical coupling