Particle.news
Download on the App Store
3 ARTICLES
·
last wk.

Rising CO2 Poised to Thin Upper Atmosphere, Reshaping Geomagnetic Storm Effects on Satellites

Simulations of a 2024-scale event indicate lower absolute peaks later this century alongside larger relative density spikes.

Image
A substantial coronal mass ejection, or CME, blows out from the side of the Sun, giving us a great view of the event in profile on June 17–18, 2015. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the action in the 304-angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. The video clip covers about four hours of the event. While some of the plasma falls back into the Sun, a look at the coronagraph on SOHO shows a large cloud of particles heading into space. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO
Image

Overview

  • An NSF NCAR-led study finds that increasing carbon dioxide cools and thins the thermosphere and ionosphere, changing storm-time atmospheric responses.
  • Future storms of the same intensity are projected to reach 20–50% lower peak densities yet produce nearly triple jumps relative to the pre-storm baseline.
  • The altered response could intensify episodic drag on spacecraft, affecting orbits, lifetimes, and services such as GPS and communications.
  • Researchers simulated the May 10–11, 2024 superstorm for 2016, 2040, 2061, and 2084 using the CESM WACCM-X model on the Derecho supercomputer.
  • The work, published in Geophysical Research Letters with Kyushu University collaborators, calls for broader assessments across storm types and solar-cycle phases.