Earthquake and tsunami are known to be the source of atmospheric gravity waves that can generate plasma ripples in the space. On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred near the east coast of Honshu, Japan, unleashing a savage tsunami to strike offshore of Japan.
Deriving the strength and direction of the three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field in the solar atmosphere is fundamental for understanding its dynamics. Volume information on the magnetic field mostly relies on photospheric and/or chromospheric surface vector magnetic fields.
The NASA Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) ultraviolet spectrograph began imaging the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA), regions of the ionosphere with enhanced electron density north and south of the magnetic equator, in October 2018.
Solar magnetic activity exhibits variations with periods between 1.5–4 years, the so-called quasi-biennial oscillations (QBOs), in addition to the well-known 11-year Schwabe cycles. The solar dynamo is thought to be the responsible mechanism for the generation of the QBOs.
The ability to predict conditions in Earth’s ionosphere and thermosphere is of increasing societal relevance due to the growing dependence on, for example, satellite based communications and navigation (e.g., GPS) systems.
