Complex plasma structuring in the equatorial ionosphere

Abstract:

The Naval Research Laboratory has developed a comprehensive, self-consistent model of equatorial bubble evolution based the ionosphere model SAMI3. This model has been recently upgraded to include a 4th order, flux-corrected transport scheme for E x B transport. The new model is able to reproduce the observed bifurcation and complex structuring of equatorial plasma bubbles. Additionally we find that plasma bubbles can merge via an 'electrostatic reconnection' process. We will report these new results and compare them to both optical and in situ plasma observations.