AGU Ionosphere Press Conference

The ionosphere is a layer of charged particles in Earth’s atmosphere that extends from about 50 to 360 miles above the surface of Earth. Processes in the ionosphere also create bright swaths of color in the sky, known as airglow.

Credit: NASA GSFC

In this animation, a cloud of solar material collides with Earth’s magnetosphere, injecting energy into near-Earth space and triggering the aurora.

Credit: NASA GSFC/CIL

Lightning occurs when electric charges build up in clouds, which results in a voltage difference between the cloud and the ground. For lightning to strike, there must be an electrically conducting pathway between the cloud and the ground, and the lightning suddenly discharges all the stored energy at once.

Credit: NOAA Photo Library; NOAA Central Library; OAR/ERL/National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)

Electrical energy caused by the solar wind striking the magnetosphere produces a voltage difference between different regions of the ionosphere and the magnetosphere. Electric currents flowing along Earth’s magnetic field can form a conducting pathway between these regions.

Credit: NASA

This animation shows heating of Earth’s upper atmosphere as determined from the Iridium constellation of satellites.

Credit: NASA

The space above Earth is littered with orbital debris.

Credit: NASA GSFC

During a geomagnetic storm, Earth’s upper atmosphere can expand and contract depending on conditions in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.

Credit: NASA GSFC

The swelling of Earth's upper atmosphere during geomagnetic storms can alter the orbits of satellites, bringing them lower and lower.

Credit: NASA

Nitric oxide, which is often produced during geomagnetic storms, acts a cooling agent in the upper atmosphere.

Credit: L. Hunt (SSAI) and M. Mlynczak (NASA Langley)

Data from NASA’s Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics, or TIMED, satellite shows nitric oxide flux in the upper atmosphere.

Credit: University of Colorado Boulder/NASA

Processes in the ionosphere create bright swaths of color in the sky, known as airglow. This airglow is visible in this photo taken from the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA

NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, will observe multiple wavelengths of light to study different aspects of the ionosphere and upper atmosphere.

Credit: NASA GSFC/CIL/University of California, Berkeley

NASA’s Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD, mission, will study light from different points on Earth’s surface to study different aspects of the ionosphere and upper atmosphere.

Credit: NASA GSFC/SVS/University of California, Berkeley

NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, and NASA’s Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD, mission will take complementary observations of Earth’s ionosphere and upper atmosphere.

More details about this visualization can be found here.

Credit: NASA GSFC/SVS