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Description
Plasma bubbles are pockets of abrupt significant depletions in background plasma variations. These depletions are ubiquitous in the nighttime F-region and topside ionosphere at equatorial and low latitudes. There are sometimes ionospheric irregularities of various scales within the bubbles, which may cause ionospheric scintillation. Scintillation can have a substantial impact on radio signals traversing the ionosphere, for example, leading to signal cycle slips in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). This study presents an investigation of the time evolution of equatorial plasma bubbles during the Mother’s Day geomagnetic storm (1012 May 2024). Global Swarm plasma density measurements and total electron content (TEC) are used in this study. Over the Asian sector (longitude 90° – 170° E), postsunset bubbles were observed throughout the storm period, extending into midlatitude regions in both hemispheres during the recovery period (11 – 12 May). Postmidnight bubbles were suppressed prior to the storm's recovery phase and generated during it. Both postsunset and pre-sunrise bubbes extended to midlatitude regions during the recovery phase (11 May). However, in the African sector (15° W – 60° E), the bubbles in the topside ionosphere were suppressed during the recovery phase (11 May), and the activity recovered on the 12th of May. We will explore the possible drivers of the poleward expansion of the postsunset plasma bubbles, the origin of the pre-sunset plasma bubbles, as well as the suppression of bubble activity using supplementary data (e.g., magnetic field and neutral wind measurements).