The Impacts of Zonal and Meridional Winds on the Observed Occurrence Rate of Equatorial Plasma Bubbles

Abstract Post‐sunset equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) formation is believe to be influenced by factors including thermospheric neutral winds. This study characterizes pre‐sunset neutral winds observed by ICON on EPB occurrences observed by GOLD over the east Atlantic. 3 years of data during the months of November through February are utilized when most EPBs are seen in this region enabling statistical analysis of the data. This is accomplished by generating two populations to compare: winds that precede EPB occurrence and those which do not. Both populations' wind speed magnitudes, wind speed gradients with local time, and wind speed gradients with altitude can then be compared. Zonal and meridional winds weakly correlate to EPB occurrence and are therefore not strong predictors of EPB occurrence. Strongest correlation occurs 1 hr before sunset for meridional winds. Sample sizes are insufficient to determine if pairs of gradient samples were statistically distinct.