Scientists find new way of spotting invisible ‘plasma bubbles’ lurking in Earth’s upper atmosphere
China scientists have developed a new way of spotting massive and invisible “plasma bubbles” that hide in the upper atmosphere of the earth. Natural disturbances can disrupt GPS software and interfere with radio signals, but are incredibly difficult to follow.
The bubbles, known as equatorial plasma bubbles (EPB), are in the ionosphere – the region of the atmosphere over 30 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface of the earth, where most of the gas has been ionized or stripped of electrons, by solar radiation, transforming it into a plasma sea.
Bubbles are cavities in the ionosphere, similar to holes inside Swiss cheese blocks, according to Spaceweather.com. They are formed shortly after sunset, when the lack of sunlight causes a sudden stop of ionization, but they appear only near the magnetic equator of the planet, which is from the geographic equator.
EPBS can become 6 to 60 miles (10 to 100 km) in diameter, according to Earthsky.org. But as plasma cavities are invisible to the naked eye, they have proven to be very difficult to measure and follow with precision in real time.
But it is important to know where they are because they can disturb GPS positioning software and interfere with the radio signals which are rebounded on the ionosphere over long distances, which makes them potentially dangerous in certain circumstances.
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In a new study, published on May 9 in the journal Spatial weatherScientists from the National Space Science Chinese and the University of Beijing have developed a new way of identifying EPBs by Monitoring. These shimmering lights of the Aurora type appear when the plasma in the upper ionosphere cools during the night and recombins in gas, emitting energy in the form of light.
The team realized that the EPBs slightly modify the appearance of the air glow which forms above them. The researchers then formed an automatic learning program, using more than 10 years of Airglow photography captured by the all -sky imaging of the Qujing station in the south of China, to search for the signs of deformation of the fine antiglow. Their best model could precisely detect and measure bubbles 88% of time.
“The test results have verified that automatic learning is an excellent method for automatically detecting and extracting the characteristics of the EPB,” wrote researchers in the study.
However, a major limitation of this method is that it only works when there is aerial lighting, which is never guaranteed and becomes much less common during periods of reduced solar activity, which can last several years at the same time.
Avoid disaster
Researchers hope that their results could help prevent several problems concerning EPBS.
A potential problem is how bubbles can interfere with Satellite GPS signals, potentially leading to errors in location software. In 2024, a study published in the journal Satellite navigationrevealed that the software used by planes is particularly subject to this interference, which can lead them to fly slightly out of course. The chances of a collision or an accident that occurred following this is minimal but not negligible, warned study researchers at the time.
EPBs can also disrupt radio signals by modifying the way they bounce on the ionosphere, which can be problematic in emergency scenarios.
In 2014, researchers from the American Geophysical Union noted that a great bubble in 2002 was partly responsible for a deadly American military operation in Afghanistan. The radio operators could not warn a Chinese helicopter not to try to land on an enemy controlled mountain top, leading to a vehicle accident under enemy fire and three soldiers killed during the fight against the shots that followed.
New discoveries could be used to create an early alert system for general practitioners and radio operators, allowing them to take into account the disturbing cavities in their models and forecasts and to avoid the worst potential scenarios.
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