Ionospheric plasma disturbances have a measurable influence on lower atmospheric weather patterns
the verdict
REFUTED
the evidence says no
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
2 sources for · 4 against
Peer-reviewed literature demonstrates that lower atmospheric weather processes influence the ionosphere rather than ionospheric plasma disturbances having a measurable influence on lower atmospheric weather patterns.
The global atmospheric electrical circuit and climate
Evidence is emerging for physical links among clouds, global temperatures, the global atmospheric electrical circuit and cosmic ray ionisation. The global circuit extends throughout the atmosphere from the planetary surface to the lower layers of the ionosphere. Cosmic rays are the principal source of atmospheric ions away from the continental boundary layer: the ions formed permit a vertical conduction current to flow in the fair weather part of the global circuit. Through the (inverse) solar modulation of cosmic rays, the resulting columnar ionisation changes may allow the global circuit to convey a solar influence to meteorological phenomena of the lower atmosphere. Electrical effects on non-thunderstorm clouds have been proposed to occur via the ion-assisted formation of ultrafine aerosol, which can grow to sizes able to act as cloud condensation nuclei, or through the increased ice nucleation capability of charged aerosols.
Previous studies suggested that sudden stratospheric warmings (SSW) change the global atmosphere from troposphere to thermosphere/ionosphere. We report the low‐latitude O+ and H+ composition at 840‐km altitude during the 2009 SSW, with the DMSP satellite morning measurements. Our results indicate that the stratospheric variation around 30‐km altitude modulates the ion exchange between the ionosphere and protonosphere via the vertical and field‐aligned plasma drifts due to the enhanced lunar semidiurnal tides. The upward disturbance drift uplifts the ionospheric O+ into the protonosphere, and most O+ is changed to H+ via chemical coupling, while the O+/H+ transition height does not change under combined effects of the southward and upward disturbance drifts on 24–29 January. The disturbance drift turns downward, lowers the O+/H+ transition height, depletes the O+ density in the protonosphere, and the H+ at higher altitudes moves downward to supply the H+ at 840 km from 30 January to 5 February.
associated with space weather, including geomagnetic storms and substorms, energization of the Van Allen radiation belts, ionospheric disturbances and scintillation
Space weather is a branch of space physics and aeronomy, or heliophysics, concerned with the varying conditions within the Solar System and its heliosphere. This includes the effects of the solar wind, especially on the Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere. Though physically distinct, space weather is analogous to the terrestrial weather of Earth's atmosphere (troposphere
Atmospheric drag on LEO satellites caused by energy inputs into the thermosphere from solar UV, FUV, Lyman-alpha, EUV, XUV, X-ray, and gamma ray photons as well as by charged particle precipitation and Joule heating at high latitudes;
Surface and internal charging from increased energetic particle fluxes, leading to effects such as discharges, single event upsets and latch-up, on LEO to GEO satellites;
Disrupted GPS signals caused by ionospheric scintillation leading to increased uncertainty in navigation systems such as aviation's Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS);
Lost HF, UHF and L-band radio communications due to ionosphere scintillation, solar flares and geomagnetic storms;
Increased radiation to human tissue and avionics from galactic cosmic rays SEP, especially during large solar flares, and possibly bremsstrahlung gamma-rays produced by precipitating radiation belt energetic electrons at altitudes above 8 km;
Increased inaccuracy in surveying and oil/gas exploration that uses the Earth's main magnetic field when it is disturbed by geomagnetic storms;
Loss of power transmission from GIC surges in the electrical power grid and transformer shutdowns during large geomagnetic storms.
Many of these disturbances result in societal impacts that account for a significant part of the national GDP.
The concept of incentivizing commercial space weather was first suggested by the idea of a Space Weather Economic Innovation Zone discussed by the American Commercial Space Weather Association (ACSWA) in 2015. The establishment of this economic innovation zone would encourage expanded economic activity developing applications to manage the risks space weather and would encourage broader research activities related to space weather by universities. It could encourage U.S. business investment in space weather services and products. It promoted the support of U.S. business innovation in space weather services and products by requiring U.S. government purchases of U.S. built commercial hardware, software, and associated products and services where no suitable government capability pre-exists. It also promoted U.S. built commercial hardware, software, and associated…
The ionosphere-thermosphere (IT) is a convergence point of energy and processes that interconnect Earth’s atmosphere with space. Processes generated by terrestrial weather in the lower atmosphere (i.e., troposphere and stratosphere, altitudes less than ~ 50 km) are recognized by the scientific community as sources of variability in both the structure and composition of the IT. Exposed to persistent wave forcing from terrestrial weather sources and solar and magnetic forcing, the IT is a domain of compelling scientific inquiry that connects thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, electrodynamics and plasma physics. Predicting its space weather is of significant national interest for space situation awareness including the very low earth orbit as the new frontier of space operations. Advancing the understanding of whole atmosphere interconnections between terrestrial and space weather requires coordinated modeling and observational efforts across different spatial and temporal scales. Toward this goal, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), through the living with a star (LWS) program, established in 2022 a focused science topic (FST) to study the problem from various angles. In this manuscript we report on the vision, goals and status of the ongoing FST “Impact of Terrestrial Weather on the Ionosphere—Thermosphere”. Initial results show bigger impacts on the IT than hitherto thought and help to more clearly define the state-of-the-art in the context of future NASA missions such as EZIE, DYNAMIC and GDC.
The two-year prime mission of the NASA Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) is complete. The baseline operational and scientific objectives have been met and exceeded, as detailed in this report. In October of 2019, ICON was launched into an orbit that provides its instruments the capability to deliver near-continuous measurements of the densest plasma in Earth's space environment. Through collection of a key set of in-situ and remote sensing measurements that are, by virtue of a detailed mission design, uniquely synergistic, ICON enables completely new investigations of the mechanisms that control the behavior of the ionosphere-thermosphere system under both geomagnetically quiet and active conditions. In a two-year period that included a deep solar minimum, ICON has elucidated a number of remarkable effects in the ionosphere attributable to energetic inputs from the lower and middle atmosphere, and shown how these are transmitted from the edge of space to the peak of plasma density above. The observatory operated in a period of low activity for 2 years and then for a year with increasing solar activity, observing the changing balance of the impacts of lower and upper atmospheric drivers on the ionosphere.
Our results agree well with the observed evolution of the neutral temperature in the upper atmosphere and with low-latitude ionospheric disturbances over America. For the first time, we identify an SSW-related cooling in the tropical lower thermosphere that, in turn, could provide additional information for understanding the mechanisms for the generation of electric field disturbances observed at low latitudes. We show that the SSW-related vertical electromagnetic drift due to electric field disturbances is a key mechanism for interpretation of an observed anomalous diurnal development of the equatorial ionization anomaly during the 2009 SSW event. We demonstrate that the link between thermospheric winds and the ionospheric dynamo electric field during the SSW is attained through the modulation of the semidiurnal migrating solar tide. Published in Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate
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