Post-Sunrise Ionospheric Irregularities in Southeast Asia During the Geomagnetic Storm on 19–20 April 2024

Abstract

We present new insights into post-sunrise ionospheric irregularities in Southeast Asia during the intense geomagnetic storm of 19–20 April 2024. By utilizing Total Electron Content (TEC) and Rate of TEC Change Index (ROTI) maps, along with ionosondes, we identified the emergence of post-sunset Equatorial Plasma Bubbles (EPBs)—plasma depletion structures and irregularities—in western Southeast Asia on 19 April. These EPBs moved eastward, and the irregularities dissipated before midnight after the EPBs covered approximately 10° of longitude. Interestingly, plasma density depletion structures persisted and turned westward after midnight until post-sunrise the following day. Concurrently, an increase in F-region height from midnight to sunrise, possibly induced by the storm’s electric field, facilitated the regeneration of irregularities in the residual plasma depletions during the post-sunrise period. The significant increase in F-region height was particularly pronounced in western Southeast Asia. As a result, post-sunrise irregularities expanded their latitudinal structure while propagating westward. These findings suggest that areas with decayed plasma depletion structures from post-sunset EPBs that last past midnight could be sites for creating post-sunrise irregularities during geomagnetic storms. The storm-induced electric fields produce EPBs and ionospheric irregularities at longitudes where the surviving plasma depletion structures of post-sunset EPBs are present.