“The Tonga Volcano Eruption: How it Caused a Super Bubble in Earth’s Ionosphere and Disrupted Satellite Navigation”

With technology becoming more and more embedded in our daily lives, understanding space weather and its influence on technology is becoming increasingly important.

when we hearspace climateone usually thinks of a major eruption on the Sun – a coronal mass ejection hurtling towards Earth, created Beautiful sunset show.

However, not all space weather begins with the sun.

That Volcanic eruption in Tonga As of January 2022, it is so massive it is creating waves in the upper atmosphere that shape its own space weather.

It was one of the largest eruptions in modern history and affected GPS across Australia and South East Asia. As we explain in our new study in the journal space climatethe volcanic eruption created a super “plasma bubble” over northern Australia that lasted hours.

Truly a global positioning system

While most people have a GPS (Global Positioning System) on their devices (such as satellites and smartphones), not many know how GPS actually works.

In essence, our devices listen to radio signals sent by satellites orbiting the Earth. Using these signals, they calculate their position relative to the satellite, allowing us to orient ourselves and find the nearest bar or coffee shop.

The radio signals that our devices receive are affected by the earth’s atmosphere (specifically the layer called the earth’s atmosphere). ionosfir), which reduces location accuracy. Common devices are only accurate within tens of meters.

However, newer and improved satellite positioning systems, used in the mining, agriculture and construction industries, can be accurate to ten centimeters. The only problem is that this system takes some time to install on their site, and this can take thirty minutes or more.

This Precise satellite position It works by accurately modeling the faults caused by the Earth’s ionosphere. But whenever a perturbation occurs in the ionosphere, it becomes complex and difficult to model.

For example, when a file Geomagnetic storm (disturbance of the solar wind affecting Earth’s magnetic field) occurs, the ionosphere becomes turbulent, and radio waves traveling through it are scattered – much like visible light bends and scatters when looking at a lake in choppy conditions.

volcanic disturbance

Recent research It showed that the Hongga Tonga-Hong Haapei volcanic eruptions caused erratic ionospheric conditions that lasted several days. The waves they generate in the ionosphere are about the same size as those generated by geomagnetic storms.

While these waves affected GPS data worldwide for days after the eruption, their influence on positioning was somewhat limited compared to another type of disturbance in the ionosphere – the “super plasma bubbles” that form after the eruption.

The ionosphere is the layer of Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of about 80–800 km (50–500 miles). It consists of a gas with lots of electrically charged particles, which makes it “plasma“.

In turn, equatorial plasma bubbles are disturbances of plasma in the ionosphere that occur naturally at night at low latitudes.

These plasma bubbles occur regularly. They form due to a phenomenon called “general Rayleigh-Taylor instability”. This is similar to what happens when a heavier liquid is on top of a less heavy liquid, and bubbles from the lighter liquid bubble up into the heavy liquid as “bubbles” (see video below).

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In terms of disturbances in the ionosphere, plasma is also controlled by magnetic and electric fields.

As they rise, the plasma bubbles form oddly shaped structures that resemble an upturned cactus or tree root. Due to Earth’s magnetic field, these structures spread out as bubbles grow over the equator.

The result is that higher altitude bubbles also reach higher latitudes. Typically, plasma bubbles reach several hundred kilometers above the equator, reaching latitudes between 15 and 20 degrees north and south.

A rare bubble over Australia

Scientists find out A Super plasma bubbles In Southeast Asia shortly after the eruption of the Tonga volcano. Its size is estimated to be similar to that previously reported Super rare bubble.

Earth’s magnetic field carries the disturbance southward, where it persists for several hours over Townsville in northeastern Australia.

To date, this is the southernmost plasma bubble that has been observed in Australia. Although these superbubbles are rare, known to occur in northern Australia, they had never been observed directly prior to this event.

The recent proliferation of GPS stations across northern Australia has made this type of monitoring possible.

It is understood that the waves from the eruption disturbed the winds in the upper atmosphere, altered the plasma flow in the ionosphere and caused super plasma bubbles to appear.

Our study found that the bubble caused significant delays in accurate GPS usage across northern Australia and South East Asia. In some cases, it took more than five hours for the GPS location to lock due to plasma bubbles.

Although we understand a lot about the ionosphere, our ability to predict its disturbances is still limited. Having more GPS stations is not only useful for improving positioning and navigation, but also filling gaps in ionospheric monitoring.

Tonga’s volcanic eruptions are a far cry from the typical sun-induced “space weather” event. But their impact on the upper atmosphere and GPS highlights the importance of understanding how the environment affects the technologies we rely on.

Brett CarterProfessor Madya, RMIT University; Rize Pradiptasenior researcher in science, Boston UniversityAnd Sulin ChoiTn

This article has been republished from Conversation Under Creative Commons License. Read Original article.