NASA Discovers Strange Spectral Shapes on Earth

The ionosphere extends from 80 to 640 kilometers above the planet and marks the boundary between our planet’s atmosphere and outer space. Although it hosts most of the satellites orbiting Earth, it is vulnerable to changes in space weather (electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun) that can wreak havoc in the region and affect communications equipment. Now NASA scientists have discovererUnusual shapes in Earth’s ionosphere, hundreds of kilometers above the surface.

Under some conditions, the layer can become electrically charged. As detected by the Global Limb and Disk Observatory (GOLD) imaging instrument, plasma bands extend across the ionosphere. It can lead to unusual X- and C-shaped formations..

This is the puzzling “alphabet soup,” as NASA has called the results. press releasewho It could shed light on how space weather affects the atmosphere. high above our planet and “interfering with radio and GPS signals.” Charged particles can create dense bands or ridges around Earth’s magnetic equator, while low-density pockets created by sunsets can create low-density regions called bubbles, according to NASA.

Scientists believe so. Larger disturbances, such as solar storms or even massive volcanic eruptions.can cause several hills to merge and form an “X,” as previous GOLD observations have shown. But now, scientists have discovered these same shapes without any stimulus, during what scientists call quiet time.

“Previous reports of melting have only occurred during conditions of geomagnetic disturbance; An unexpected feature during geomagnetically quiet conditions.“It is a very interesting study,” explains Fazlul Laskar, a research associate at the University of Colorado and lead author of the book. study About the discovery of this phenomenon. Its unknown origin is what raises the doubts of experts.

“X is weird because This means that there are much more local determining factors. “This is expected during extreme events, but seeing it during quiet times suggests that lower atmospheric activity is significantly driving the ionospheric structure,” adds NASA scientist and ionosphere expert Jeffrey Klinzing.

In addition to X-shapes, some bubbles in the ionosphere can also bend into C-shapes, which according to the new observations can appear very close to each other. In short, There is still a lot to learn about the protective layer. Magnetically charged from our planet.

“The fact that we have bubbles of very different shapes, very close to each other, tells us that Atmospheric dynamics are more complex than we expected.“Klinzing concludes,”