Earth storms 'lead to space storms'
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Earth storms 'lead to space storms'*
From correspondents in Washington
September 13, 2006 06:13am
Article from: Reuters
THUNDERSTORMS on Earth can lead to storms in the outer reaches of the
atmosphere that disrupt radio transmissions and other electronic
communications, US researchers said today.
The discovery could lead to more reliable global-positioning satellite
(GPS) navigation and short-wave radio transmissions by improving
forecasts of high-altitude disturbances that can disrupt them, said
University of California-Berkeley researcher Thomas Immel.
Using data from NASA satellites, Mr Immel and other researchers
discovered that thunderstorms over South America, Africa and South-East
Asia can create turbulence in two bands of electrical gas that hover
400km above the equator in part of the upper atmosphere known as the
ionosphere.
These plasma bands are far too thin to be directly affected by wind from
thunderstorms, but researchers found that the wind can shape the plasma
bands by generating electricity in the layer of atmosphere below them.
Three of the densest sections of plasma were located directly above
areas with frequent thunderstorms - the Amazon Basin in South America,
the Congo Basin in Africa, and Indonesia.
But researchers found another dense section of plasma above the Pacific
Ocean, far from thunderstorm zones - evidence that tropical
thunderstorms have a global influence.
That may explain why the ionosphere above North America is more
turbulent than other areas, disrupting radio transmissions that travel
through it.
"We now know that accurate predictions of ionospheric disturbances have
to incorporate this effect from tropical weather," Mr Immel said in a
statement.
Researchers now hope to determine if the plasma bands shift with the
seasons, or during large events like hurricanes.