Scientists from NASA and other universities discovered that the Earth's mysterious Ionosphere counteracts heating in the thermosphere. This is a vital new knowledge since the Ionosphere is Earth's Interface to space and is part of the Earth's atmosphere that is in between the space above it and the planet below it.

Region of Earth's atmosphere reacts to changes of temperature

During the American Geophysical Union meeting on December 14 at San Francisco, scientists presented the results of their study showing that the Ionosphere and the Thermosphere interacts with a counteract heating that leads to premature orbital decay for the uppermost atmosphere, PHYS reported. The scientists where from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center located in Greenbelt, Maryland, as well as scientists from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., the Universe of California, Berkeley, and the University of Colorado Boulder.

A researcher reported that energy beyond the Ionosphere can accumulate and discharges, which is why some energy from space enters the Earth's atmosphere. Another scientist announced that NASA is planning for another mission that will conduct a deeper study on this region of the Earth's atmosphere. This is the explanation why Ionosphere is reacting to space weather and the weather in the Earth's terrestrial weather.  

What is ionosphere?

The ionosphere or Earth's Interface to space is the upper most atmosphere of the Earth and is very much affected by the sun's activities. Meanwhile, CU Boulder found out how the "natural thermostat" of the ionosphere works. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) release electrically charged plasma that comes from the sun. This has an adverse effect on satellites and is the major cause of power outage and disruption of GPS service.

According to the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences' CU Boulder Professor Delores Knipp CMEs create shock waves heating up the upper atmosphere of Earth, the University of Colorado Boulder reported. But CME's also create trace chemical nitric oxide, which cools and shrinks the CME. This is the major cause for the "natural thermostat" that the Earth's Interface to space has.