In a new study, scientists have revealed that solar storms can strip away electrons from the Earth's atmosphere. When a solar storm strikes the planet, it first crashes with the planet's magnetic field or magnetosphere. This creates a space where the charged particles scatter within the ionosphere, which is also the outer layer of Earth's atmosphere.
Solar storms are linked to excessive presence of electrons. However, this new study reveals that electrons suddenly disappear from massive regions in the atmosphere and collect in other areas. "We obtained measurements of a specific solar storm that hit the Arctic Circle in 2014. Our new findings show how electrons in large quantities disappear in areas ranging from 500 to a thousand kilometers. These electrons are vacuum cleaned in an area of heavy increased of electron density that are called patches," Per Høeg from the Technical University of Denmark said.
Scientists from the Technical University of Denmark and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have identified this phenomenon in the Earth's atmosphere. However, they are still trying to figure out what causes sit. During surveys, the team gathered intensive data obtained from satellites and geomagnetic measuring stations linked to this 2014 solar storm.
The DTU team's mission in to obtain a better understanding of how atmospheric phenomena such as electromagnetic storms can affect communications and navigation systems. With this new evidence, researchers will continue to monitor electromagnetic data to find clues about the missing electrons in Earth's atmosphere.
"The data we have collected in this research can be both used for practical applications and theoretical models. By studying both, we will achieve a basic understanding why this happens," DTU Space's Tibor Durgonics said. "We also identified a number of critical factors that affect the quality of satellite navigation to make better assessments in order to predict when this phenomenon will occur. On a theoretical standpoint, we discovered how solar storms cause electrons to disperse and disappear from the ionosphere which is the exact opposite of something you would expect from a solar storm hitting Earth."
This new study was published in the journal, Radio Science.