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Science NASA: See 4D live model of Earth’s ionosphere
Science NASA: See 4D live model of Earth’s ionosphere | NASA: See 4D live model of Earth’s ionosphere |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Friday, 02 May 2008 | |
  
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Science DiscussionsThe NASA program Living With a Star (LWS) funded the project. Space Environment Technologies, Inc. (California), Space Environment Corporation (Utah), and the U.S. Air Force developed the concept of the 4D Earth ionosphere. The ionosphere is the uppermost portion of the Earth’s atmosphere. It is characterized by its ionization (process by which atoms turn into ions by the addition or subtraction of charged particles, such as electrons), which is caused by ultraviolet radiation coming in from the Sun. It borders the nearest portion of the magnetosphere, which is the volume around the Earth dominated(and created) by Earth’s magnetic field. The ionosphere extends from approximately fifty to five hundred miles (80 to 800 kilometers) above the surface of the Earth. The atmosphere within the ionosphere is whisper-thin at fifty miles, but turns to a near-vacuum (almost devoid of matter) at five hundred miles—at which point the magnetosphere begins to appear. The ionosphere is important to people on Earth because it affects, both positively and negatively, our communications. It can disrupt the global positioning system (GPS) of the United States, and other global navigational systems that are being developed by Russia and the European Union. On the other hand, it helps radio operators bounce radio signals from one location on Earth to another. Solar physicist Lika Guhathakurta (NASA Headquarters) states, "This is an exciting development. The ionosphere is important to pilots, ham radio operators, earth scientists and even soldiers. Using this new 4D tool, they can monitor and study the ionosphere as if they're actually inside it." Guhathakurta, who is also a LWS program scientist, added, "Understanding the ionosphere is clearly important. That's why NASA's Living with a Star (LWS) program funded this work." To download what you need for your own 4-D model of Earth’s ionosphere, go to the NASA website: “How to Launch the 4D Ionosphere.” Or, read the NASA article “4D Ionosphere,” where the instructions to download are included. |
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