Occurrence characteristics of branching structures in equatorial plasma bubbles: a statistical study based on all-sky imagers in China

Branching structure (BS) is a very important phenomenon in the evolution of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs), the mechanism of which is widely studied from observation and from simulation. However, occurrence characteristics of branching structure of equatorial plasma bubbles (BSEPBs) have not been well addressed. In this work, we used seven-years (2012−2018) of observations from two all-sky imagers to study occurrence of BSEPBs in detail. These data reveal a high incidence of BS in EPB cases; in particular, most EPBs occurring on days with geomagnetic disturbances exhibited BS. Periods when all EPBs exhibited BS increased significantly in the 2014 solar maximum. Occurrence times of BSEPBs varied with local time; most of the BSEPBs began to appear between 21:00 and 22:00 LT. During the solar maximum, some BSEPBs were observed after midnight. The data also reveal that BSEPBs are characterized primarily by two branches or three branches. Multi-branching appeared only in the solar maximum. EPB events with different coexisting branching structures increased from 2012 to 2014 and decreased from 2014 to 2018. These results strongly suggest that BSEPB occurrence is related to solar activity and geomagnetic activity, and thus provide a new perspective for future studies of EPBs as well as enriching our understanding of ionospheric irregularity.