Why Do We Study the Ionosphere?
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Gary Mikitin, AF8A
Nov 11, 2025, 3:25:16 PM (5 days ago) Nov 11
to HamSCI
Why Do We Study the Ionosphere? The answer likely depends on who you ask (aside from the expected retort 'Why NOT study the ionosphere?').
This article from the BBC notes that monitoring the ionosphere could save lives and property, providing tsunami warnings. From the article:
"The reason why navigation satellite signals can register a tsunami is because of the up-and-down motion of the sea. When a tsunami begins to form in the open ocean, its waves may not be very high – perhaps between 10-50cm (4-20 inches). It's almost invisible while it's travelling in the open ocean," says Yue Cynthia Wu, a researcher in marine engineering at the University of Michigan who specialises in ocean wave dynamics."
"This undulation, however, occurs on a gigantic scale, moving extremely large amounts of water at once. This movement displaces the air above it, which disturbs the atmosphere higher up, creating ripples in the layer of charged particles that form the ionosphere some 30 to 190 miles above the Earth's surface. The ripples alter the number of electrons present in parts of the ionosphere..."
The full article is here: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251111-how-nasa-spotted-a-tsunami-in-real-time
The above brought to mind the work by those in HamSCI who are studying the causes and effects of TIDs - transient ionospheric disturbances. Keep it up, I say!
73 de Gary, AF8A
This article from the BBC notes that monitoring the ionosphere could save lives and property, providing tsunami warnings. From the article:
"The reason why navigation satellite signals can register a tsunami is because of the up-and-down motion of the sea. When a tsunami begins to form in the open ocean, its waves may not be very high – perhaps between 10-50cm (4-20 inches). It's almost invisible while it's travelling in the open ocean," says Yue Cynthia Wu, a researcher in marine engineering at the University of Michigan who specialises in ocean wave dynamics."
"This undulation, however, occurs on a gigantic scale, moving extremely large amounts of water at once. This movement displaces the air above it, which disturbs the atmosphere higher up, creating ripples in the layer of charged particles that form the ionosphere some 30 to 190 miles above the Earth's surface. The ripples alter the number of electrons present in parts of the ionosphere..."
The full article is here: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251111-how-nasa-spotted-a-tsunami-in-real-time
The above brought to mind the work by those in HamSCI who are studying the causes and effects of TIDs - transient ionospheric disturbances. Keep it up, I say!
73 de Gary, AF8A
Lawrence Naif
Nov 12, 2025, 11:18:12 AM (4 days ago) Nov 12
to ham...@googlegroups.com
Is the effect only applicable to the 30-190 miles above Earth's surface, or more?
There seems to be a link between the velocity of moving waves in the ocean during the formation of the Tsunami and the density of electrons in the ionosphere, which it displaces
Can this be picked up by the COSMIC-1, COSMIC-2 Data and Other RO Mission: TEC, S4, and RFI measures?
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Terry Bullett
Nov 13, 2025, 4:53:36 PM (2 days ago) Nov 13
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This tsunami was also observed by ionosonde from Palau.
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