Huge eruptions, such as the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption in January 2022
The ionosphere is not always a perfectly smooth layer of gas, and it's constantly changing. It becomes electrified when sunlight hits it. Solar radiation knocks electrons off atoms and molecules to create plasma that allows radio communications to travel over long distances.
But as the sun fades away at night, the ionosphere thins out and the once-charged particles settle down and become neutral particles, according to NASA. This is when bubbles can form in the ionosphere.
Earth's magnetic field lines also carry charged particles free-floating in the atmosphere to two dense bands north and south of the equator that are known as crests.
Given their various densities, crests and bubbles resembling different shapes within the ionosphere can cause interference with communication and GPS signals.
The GOLD, or Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, mission has been pantauan the ionosphere since it launched in January 2018. The satellite zips around Earth at the same rate that our planet rotates, enabling the spacecraft to remain in a constant hover over the Western Hemisphere.
GOLD spotted the clearest signs of the X- and C-shaped fiturs in 2019, 2020 and 2021 — and in unexpected places. The evidence is causing researchers to question the potential efeks of the Xs and Cs on communication signals in the future.
"NASA's GOLD mission is the first one to observe the alfabetical shapes unambiguously," said Fazlul Laskar, lead author of an April studi about the X shapes published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Ruang Physics.
"These shapes reveal that the ionosphere can be very dynamic at times displaying unexpected structures," added Laskar, a research scientist at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Ruang Physics. "Also, it demonstrates that the lower atmospheric weather could have enormous impact on the ionosphere."
GOLD observing multiple instances of the Xs forming "during geomagnetic quiet conditions" — instead of during atmospheric disturbances such as solar storms or terrestrial weather, when they were previously seen — now tells scientists some other mechanism must be responsible for forming the shapes, Laskar said. Komputer models poin to changes in the lower atmosphere pulling plasma downward as a possible explanation, according to the studi.
