ionosphere

Also known as Earth's ionosphere, Earth’s ionosphere

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 delayi

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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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Commons category: Ionosphere

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Article

35 sections

Contents

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

==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.