The Ionosphere Above Us, At Night... Offers Complex, Patterned Ripples -- Far More Often Than Previous Models Suggested: GPS "Static" Implications.

As ever, I find space science as. . . a constant draw -- for my imagination, and. . . imaginings.

The idea that these waves and ripples self-organize, into reverse "c" shapes and "x" shapes hundreds of miles across, and thus cause interference with radio and GPS transmissions. . . fascinates me. Why? What new model of near Earth plasma dynamics will explain this? Let's listen in, at NASA:

. . .Who knew Earth’s upper atmosphere was like alphabet soup?

NASA’s Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission has revealed unexpected C- and X-shaped formations in an electrified layer of gas high above our heads called the ionosphere.

While these alphabetical shapes have been observed before, GOLD sees them more clearly than other instruments have and is now finding them where and when scientists didn’t expect. Their surprise appearances prove that we have more to learn about the ionosphere and its effects on communication and navigation signals that pass through it. . . .

Near Earth’s magnetic equator, charged particles are funneled upward and outward along magnetic field lines, creating two dense bands of particles north and south of the equator that scientists call crests. As night falls and the Sun’s energy fades, low-density pockets in the plasma, called bubbles, can form in the ionosphere. Because of their varying density, the crests and bubbles can interfere with radio and GPS signals. . . .

While previous observations provided brief glimpses of crests and bubbles in the ionosphere, GOLD monitors these features over extended periods of time. That’s thanks to its geostationary orbit, which circles our planet at the same rate Earth rotates, allowing GOLD to hover over the Western Hemisphere. . . .

“Earlier reports of merging were only during geomagnetically disturbed conditions — it is an unexpected feature during geomagnetic quiet conditions,” said Fazlul Laskar, of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), who is the lead author of a paper about this discovery published in April 2024 by the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. . . .

Mmmmkay -- between gleaming monoliths down here, on the ground, and sky-writings, in the ionosphere. . . that's plenty to smile about -- on a bike ride, by the lake waters. . . I'm out. Have an excellent Sunday, one and all!

नमस्ते