A NASA team will launch four rockets 100 miles into the Earth’s atmosphere this month to study charged particles and winds of neutral particles in the lower ionosphere, and determine the origins of the atmospheric dynamo.
The atmospheric dynamo is a pattern of electrically charged currents in the lower ionosphere. This global current changes daily depending on sun heat or magnetic activity, but it is unclear how it maintains itself.
The investigation is important since our telecommunications rely on satellites sending signals through the ionosphere. Any disturbances may affect systems on Earth, for example GPS tracking devices.
“This experiment has never been done before,” said Rob Pfaff at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Maryland in a press release.
“We’ve measured the dynamo currents using rocket probes, but we’ve never simultaneously measured the currents along with the upper atmosphere winds and the electric fields that drive the currents,” he added.
These “sounding rockets,” will be launched between July 5 and 23, when clear weather and ionospheric currents are observed. They will measure electric fields, electron and neutral gas density, and the motion of the neutral wind.
Four rockets will take off in two pairs with one rocket measuring neutral gas and ionized gas or plasma, while the other releases a trail of lithium gas to track wind current movement.
The researchers will then compare the data to further understand the telecommunication jamming consequences of the interactions between the solar and neutral winds in the ionosphere.
“We’re studying a current that runs through the atmosphere much like the Gulf Stream moves through the ocean,” said GSFC space scientist Doug Rowland in the release.
“In the Gulf Stream, a given parcel of water travels around the whole system, and the same thing happens with the plasma in the atmosphere,” Rowland added. “In general, during the day it travels in giant, horizontal loops from equator to pole and back.”
Pfaff emphasized the significance of studying the dynamo and its currents.
“So it’s important not just for understanding how it affects our satellites, but because it is a fundamental process of Earth’s upper atmosphere—and probably other planets with atmospheres as well,” he said.
