The study of the ionospheric irregularities or plasma bubbles is very important to understand the dynamics of the ionospheric plasma during nighttime. The space and time variability is a determinant element for space weather research, thus the forecast in short time-scale of the behavior of the plasma bubble is a rather important parameter in space weather/ionospheric applications. In this paper we present the results of two years (from September 2000 to August 2002) of plasma bubbles observations by an all sky digital imager system of OI 630,0 nm placed at São João do Cariri (7º13'S; 35º52'W). The frequency of occurrence of the plasma bubble shows a seasonal behavior more frequent during the period of September and March in the two years of observation, while the other months the bubble occurrence has been less frequent. During the equinox months the bubble was observed earlier [ ~ 20:30 Local Time (LT)] than during summer months, when the occurrence peak was between 21:30 and 23:30 LT. The summer plasma bubble occurrence was larger than in equinox months. During nighttime, in low latitudes, the dynamics of the ionospheric plasma is controlled by electromagnetic drifts, which in turn depends on the conductivity along the magnetic field lines, including the flux-tube conjugate E regions. The alignment between the magnetic meridian and the Terminator is responsible for the bubble seasonal variation.
ionosphere; plasma bubble; airglow
