Chinese scientists have developed a new way to find the huge, invisible “plasma bubbles” lurking in the upper atmosphere of the Earth. Natural disturbances can destroy GPS software and interfere with radio signals, but they are extremely difficult to track.
The bubbles known as equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) are found in the ionosphere. This is an area of the atmosphere that exceeds 30 miles (50 km) of the Earth’s surface, with most gases being ionized or electrons being stripped away by solar radiation, and converted into a ocean of plasma.
According to Spaceweather.com, the bubble is a cavity within the ionosphere, resembling a hole in a block of Swiss cheese. It forms immediately after sunset, and the lack of sunlight causes a sudden halt of ionization, but appears only near the magnetic equator of the planet, attacked obliquely from the geographical equator.
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According to Earthsky.org, EPBS can grow to 6-60 miles (10-100 km). However, plasma cavity is not visible to the naked eye, and it has proven to be extremely difficult to measure and track accurately in real time.
However, it is important to know where they are, as it disrupts the GPS’ positioning software, interferes with radio signals bouncing off the ionosphere over long distances, making them potentially dangerous in certain situations.
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In a new study published in Space Weather on May 9, scientists from China’s National Center for Space Sciences and Peking University have developed a new way to find EPBs by monitoring aero. These sparkling aurora-like lights appear when the plasma in the upper ionosphere cools overnight, recombs into the gas, releasing energy in the form of light.
The team noticed that the EPB slightly changes the appearance of the aero that forms on it. Researchers then trained a machine learning program to search for signs of air glow deformation using more than a decade of air glow photographs captured by an allski imager at Kuzin Station in southern China. Their best models can accurately detect and measure bubbles for 88% of the time.
“The test results validated that machine learning is a great way to automatically detect and extract EPB properties,” the researchers wrote in their research.
However, the main limitation of this method is that it only works when aero is present. This is not guaranteed and is much less common during periods of reduced solar activity.
Avoid disasters
Researchers hope that their findings will help prevent some of the problems surrounding EPB.
One potential problem is how bubbles can interfere with GPS signals from satellites, potentially leading to location software errors. A study published in the Journal Satellite Navigation in 2024 revealed that software used in planes is particularly prone to this interference, and could fly slightly off the course. The chances of a collision or collision occurring as a result of this are minimal, but cannot be ignored, researchers warned at the time.
EPBs can also destroy radio signals by modifying the bounce from the ionosphere, which can cause problems in emergency scenarios.
In 2014, researchers from the American Geophysical Union discovered that the 2002 large bubble was responsible for some of the deadly US military operations in Afghanistan. The radio operator was unable to warn the Chinook helicopter not to attempt to land on an enemy-controlled mountain peak, and the vehicle collided under the enemy fire, causing three soldiers to be killed in a gunfight.
New findings can be used to create early warning systems for GPS and radio operators, allowing destructive cavity to be considered and predicted in the model, allowing for the avoidance of potential worst-case scenarios.
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