Fig. 7.

Schematic view of different plasma structuring phenomena in the low latitude ionosphere. The upper row shows the local time variation of equatorial eastward electric field derived from CHAMP observations (left) that is effective in uplifting the dayside ionospheric plasma at the equator (right). The lower left panel shows an example of summed global detections of equatorial plasma bubbles in the post-sunset low latitude ionosphere derived from CHAMP observations. Information of plasma structuring together with Swarm observations (L1b and n, u—neutral density and winds and TEC) can be used for assimilation into ionospheric background models (lower right). The figure shows a prediction of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model. (See online version for colored figures.)