Zoom-in to plasmapause-induced TEC enhancement - April 2001

  • Released Monday, December 5, 2005
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Space weather events which disturb the plasmapause (displayed here as a green surface enclosing the Earth) can propagate down to the Earth's ionosphere. There they enhance the ionosphere electron content which can disrupt radio signals from satellites.

NOTE: This visualization shows the Earth's magnetic dipole field lines rotating rigidly with the Earth. Technically, this is inaccurate. Ions and electrons in the lower atmosphere can create currents which can make these lines 'drag' with Earth's rotation, but this will occur mostly near the Earth and not higher up. More details on this process can be found in the FAQ at the The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere web site, Does the Earth's magnetic field rotate?.

Push-in view with time tags.

Push-in view without time tags.

An overview of the pre-storm plasmasphere.

An overview of the pre-storm plasmasphere.

An overview of the pre-storm plasmasphere (without dates).

An overview of the pre-storm plasmasphere (without dates).

Push-in to North America (no dates)

Push-in to North America (no dates)

Push-in to North America.

Push-in to North America.

The plasmasphere plume passes below the observer, enhancing the electron content of the ionosphere below it (no dates).

The plasmasphere plume passes below the observer, enhancing the electron content of the ionosphere below it (no dates).

The plasmasphere plume passes below the observer, enhancing the electron content of the ionosphere below it.

The plasmasphere plume passes below the observer, enhancing the electron content of the ionosphere below it.

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/cold_front_feature.html

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Monday, December 5, 2005.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.

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Related papers

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 110, A09S31, doi:10.1029/2004JA010928, 2005

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 110, A09S31, doi:10.1029/2004JA010928, 2005

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