Statistical Analysis of Separation Distance between Equatorial Plasma Bubbles

Equatorial plasma bubbles in the low-latitude regions can cause loss-of-lock resulting to the availability of ground-based augmentation system (GBAS) due to increased ionospheric gradients. For realistic simulation, distances between adjacent bubbles need to be determined. In this study, we analyze the statistics of this parameter around the Suvarnabhumi international airport, Thailand. This work presents the methodology to estimate the separation distance between visible plasma bubbles on the same day. To detect the equatorial plasma bubbles, we analyze the slant total electron content (STEC), which is obtained from the dual-frequency GNSS receiver located at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (geographic, 13.7278o N, 100.7726o E). The results show that the separation distance between plasma bubbles on anomalous ionosphere are in range of 30 to 150 kilometers.