The GSFC IMAGE mission site The SwRI IMAGE mission site Let me know what you think about anything you find here Learn about and view data from the Low Energy Neutral Atom Imager on the IMAGE Spacecraft of the GSFC Explorer Program Learn about and view data from the High Energy Neutral Atom Imager of the IMAGE mission of the GSFC Explorer Program The NASA HQ Main Page The GSFC Main Page, with links to everywhere The Sun-Earth Connection Division Main Page Go to the page for the Interplanetary Physics Branch of the Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Go to the page for the Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Learn about and view data from IMAGE's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager The Millstone Hill Observatory Main Page The Windows to the Universe Space Weather Page View a collection of images relating to IMAGE The NASA HQ Main Page
IMAGE GALLERY
     
  

MAGNETOSPHERE ANIMATION STILLS

As plasma from a solar storm impacts the Earth's magnetic field, oxygen ions
are immediately ejected from the polar Ionosphere in response to the bursts
of heating caused by the massive electrical currents generated.  The ejected
ions flow outward along Earth's magnetic field lines toward the geotail. The
pressure from the solar wind stretches the magnetic field toward the
night-side of the Earth like a rubberband.  When the stretching becomes too
great, the night-side magnetosphere snaps back towards Earth, carrying the
ejected ions from the ionosphere with it like an enormous slingshot.  These
ions, now accelerated to enormous velocities (about 2,500 miles or 4,000
km/per second {sec), appear immediately in the aurora and in the cloud of
hot plasma that encircles the Earth during space storms.
LENA-0099.jpg (181793 bytes)   LENA-0209.jpg (183504 bytes)
LENA DATA 

      The upper atmosphere absorbs some of the energy that is input into it by the
      pressure pulses of the solar wind and, in response, it expels ions into the
      magnetosphere immediately. The Low Energy Neutral Atom imager (LENA) data
      shows that the ion outflow is prompt in response to the solar wind changes.
        
HENA DATA

Expelled oxygen ions gain tremendous speed as they leave the atmosphere and
become trapped by the Earth's magnetic field and ultimately encircle the
Earth, where they form a hot plasma cloud around the planet. Data collected
using the High Energy Neutral Atom imager (HENA) aboard the IMAGE spacecraft shows that approximately half of the energy deposited by space storms in our atmosphere is absorbed this way. 

The sudden brightenings in oxygen emission represent arrival of the ejected
oxygen in the hot plasma cloud but having gained about 100,000 times as much
energy as it started out with in the ionosphere. The oxygen appears
immediately in the aurora and in the cloud of hot plasma that encircles the
Earth during space storms.
     
GROUND BASED COMPARISON

Ground based observations of a plasma plume match the EUV image taken in
space. By combining the data from 150 ground-based GPS receivers and
ground-based radar observations, the dramatic ionospheric structures
spanning the North American continent can be seen.  Large-scale features
stretching from Washington DC, over the Great Lakes, and into Canada, map
directly into the plasmaspheric plumes seen in the IMAGE EUV observations.
These plumes and clouds of ionization are a significant space weather hazard
and can be responsible for the degradation and breakdown of navigation and
communication links.  This new view of the plasmaspheric footprint is
helping scientists to better understand the effects of space storms.
ModelFieldLines.jpg (732079 bytes)

MODEL OF MAGNETIC FIELD LINES

This image is a 3D rendering of the last closed magnetic field lines and plasma pressure as viewed from above.  These are the first results from coupling a high-performance model of the global magnetosphere with a detailed calculation of drift physics of the high- temperature particles (ring current) that build up in the inner region during magnetic storms.  The result is a tenfold increase in the plasma pressure behind the Earth.  As dramatic as these results appear, they do not yet include the ionospheric outflow viewed by the IMAGE Spacecraft.