ionosphere
Sign in to savethumb|upright=2|Relationship of the atmosphere and ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important role in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere. It has practical importance because, among other functions, it influences radio propagation to distant places on Earth. Travel through this layer also affects GPS signals, deflecting their paths and delayi
AI overview
The ionosphere is the ionized upper layer of Earth's atmosphere, located roughly 60 to 1,000 kilometers above sea level, that is created when solar radiation strips electrons from atmospheric gases. It matters because it enables long-distance radio communication, affects GPS signals, and plays a key role in Earth's electrical systems and magnetic environment.
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Article
35 sectionsContents
- History of discovery
- Geophysics
- Layers of ionization
- D layer
- E layer
- E{{sub|s}} layer
- F layer
- {{anchor|Ionospheric model}}Ionospheric model
- Persistent anomalies to the idealized model
- Winter anomaly
- Equatorial anomaly
- Equatorial electrojet
- Ephemeral ionospheric perturbations
- X-rays: sudden ionospheric disturbances (SID)
- Protons: polar cap absorption (PCA)
- Storms
- Lightning
- Applications
- Radio communication{{anchor|Radio application}}
- Mechanism of refraction
- GPS/GNSS ionospheric correction
- Other applications
- Measurements
- Overview
- Ionograms
- Incoherent scatter radars
- GNSS radio occultation
- Indices of the ionosphere
- Solar intensity
- Geomagnetic disturbances
- Ionospheres of other planets and natural satellites
- See also
- Notes
- References
- External links
thumb|upright=2|Relationship of the atmosphere and ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important role in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere. It has practical importance because, among other functions, it influences radio propagation to distant places on Earth. Travel through this layer also affects GPS signals, deflecting their paths and delaying their arrival.
==History of discovery== As early as 1839, the German mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss postulated that an electrically conducting region of the atmosphere could account for observed variations of Earth's magnetic field. Sixty years later, Guglielmo Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic radio signal on December 12, 1901, in St. John's, Newfoundland (now in Canada) using a kite-supported antenna for reception. The transmitting station in Poldhu, Cornwall, used a spark-gap transmitter to produce a signal with a frequency of approximately 500 kHz and a power of 100 times more than any radio signal previously produced. The message received was three dits, the Morse code for the letter S. To reach Newfoundland the signal would have to bounce off the ionosphere twice. Dr. Jack Belrose has contested this, however, based on theoretical and experimental work. However, Marconi did achieve transatlantic wireless communications in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, one year later.