WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:07.719 Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos 2 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:12.279 with our soothing Bedtime Astronomie podcast. Each episode offers a 3 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:16.320 gentle journey through the stars, planets, and beyond, perfect for 4 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.239 unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries 5 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.440 of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful 6 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:26.760 slumber under the night sky. 7 00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:30.079 Welcome to the deep Dive. Today we are strapping in 8 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:33.560 for a pretty wild ride. We're exploring the most powerful 9 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:36.280 space weather event we've seen in more than two decades. 10 00:00:36.439 --> 00:00:39.159 We really are. This was a true cosmic punch that 11 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:42.359 Earth took back in May of twenty twenty four, right, And. 12 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:44.280 It wasn't just spectacular to look at. I mean, the 13 00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:48.840 photos were incredible, but it was scientifically just a gold. 14 00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:51.439 Mine, a total gold mine. We're unpacking a whole stack 15 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:54.399 of sources today, all focused on what's called the Mother's 16 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:57.640 Day storm. It happened on May tenth and eleventh, and. 17 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:01.320 Space weather scientists have a name for it, right, Superstorm Gannon. 18 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:04.879 That's the one Superstorm Gannon. It was classified as a 19 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:08.439 G five storm, which is the absolute highest level of 20 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:11.640 geomagnetic activity you can have and the data gave us. 21 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:15.079 It's fundamentally shifting how we think about planetary defense. 22 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:17.079 I think we all saw the headlines, and maybe some 23 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:19.680 of you even saw the auroras, which were stunning. But 24 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:22.480 the real story, the one we're digging into, happened in 25 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:25.079 the invisible shields around our planet exactly. 26 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:28.239 Our mission today is to figure out why this storm, 27 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:30.920 the strongest in over twenty years, gave us a data 28 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:32.519 set we've just never had before. 29 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:35.200 It's not just about the storm's initial hit, is. 30 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:38.879 It, No, not at all. The core mystery here isn't 31 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:42.359 just the immediate violence of it, but the lingering aftermath. 32 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:45.840 For the first time, we have this incredibly detailed look 33 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:49.519 at how the superstorm assaulted Earth's protective. 34 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:51.319 Layers, specifically the plasmosphere. 35 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:55.000 The plasmosphere exactly. The initial compression was just brutal. We're 36 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.359 talking nine hours of intense pressure, but then the recovery 37 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:01.920 was so star rangely slow. It took four. 38 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:04.599 Days and four days of disruption. That means four days 39 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.480 where our satellites her infrastructure are vulnerable. 40 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:08.240 That's the risk. 41 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:10.639 So we're going to walk you through that timeline first. 42 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:14.120 How this huge protective layer got squeezed to about one 43 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:17.800 fifth its normal size. And then the really critical part, 44 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:21.000 how these invisible chemistry problems in the atmosphere, a thing 45 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:25.560 called a negative storm created this massive four day supply 46 00:02:25.639 --> 00:02:28.719 chain problem that left our technology totally compromised. 47 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.599 It's a fascinating story of physics and chemistry on a 48 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:32.680 planetary scale. 49 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:37.039 Okay, so let's set the stage here, superstorm Gannon. When 50 00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:39.960 we talk about a geomagnetic superstorm, we're really talking about 51 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:43.159 something at the extreme end of the scale. How rare 52 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:44.280 was an event like this? 53 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:47.879 I mean truly truly rare? Based on all the historical data, 54 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:51.039 A G five level storm which this was, happens on 55 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.639 average only about once every twenty to twenty five years. 56 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:54.039 Wow. 57 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:57.520 Yeah, we haven't seen anything this intent since the famous 58 00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:59.319 Halloween storms back in two thousand and three. 59 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:01.879 And I remember those They took out a bunch of satellites, right. 60 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:04.240 They did, cause all sorts of problems. Yeah, So this 61 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:05.759 caannon EVET was in that same leak. 62 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:09.439 So that establishes the rarity. Now let's get into the cause. 63 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:13.479 What was it on the Sun that shot this this 64 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:16.479 once in a generation blast of energy right at us. 65 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:17.919 It's not just a solar flare, is it. 66 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:20.240 No, it's much much more than that. The storm was 67 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:24.120 triggered by a whole series of massive, powerful eruptions from 68 00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:27.639 the Sun's atmosphere, and they were all timed very closely. 69 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:29.479 Together, eruptions of what exactly we. 70 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:32.919 Call them coronal mass ejections or CMEs. You have to 71 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:37.400 picture these colossal bursts of material. Basically, the Sun just 72 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:42.800 hurled billions of tons of highly charged magnetized plasma straight 73 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:43.560 towards Earth. 74 00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:47.400 Okay, so what's the difference between a normal CME one 75 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:50.199 that just gives us some nice auroras up north and 76 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:53.879 this kind of monster that can compress our entire magnetic field? 77 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:54.199 Right? 78 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:56.400 It really comes down to a few key ingredients. First, 79 00:03:56.439 --> 00:03:59.560 you need speed speed the CMEs that create again, and 80 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:03.560 we're moving incredibly fast, well over one thousand kilometers per second. 81 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:08.159 That speed creates this immense pressure when it hits our magnetosphere. 82 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:09.560 Okay, so speed is one second. 83 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:12.319 You need mass. It was billions of tons of this stuff, 84 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:14.560 which ensures it's not just a quick hit, it's a 85 00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:15.520 sustained push. 86 00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:18.639 But there's a third thing, right, the really critical factor 87 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:22.000 that turns a fast CME into a crushing storm. It's 88 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:23.600 about the magnetic field, isn't it. 89 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:26.720 Absolutely, It's all about the magnetic field orientation of that 90 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:29.959 incoming plasma cloud. We call it the Bled's component. 91 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:30.639 The Bledze component. 92 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:33.600 So the Sun has its own magnetic field and it's 93 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:37.240 embedded in this CME cloud. Now, if that cloud's magnetic 94 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:40.480 field lines are pointing north, they line up with Earth's 95 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:43.519 magnetic field, and things are, you know, relatively calm. 96 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:45.199 This sort of glands off each other. 97 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:48.600 More or less. But if the cloud's magnetic field, the 98 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:53.519 brass component, is pointing south, it directly opposes Earth's northward 99 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:54.560 pointing field lines. 100 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:57.279 And when those opposite fields meet, they don't just bounce. 101 00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:59.920 No, that's when the fireworks happen. They undergo this violent 102 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:02.639 process called magnetic reconnection. 103 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:04.199 Which is like what a short circuit. 104 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:07.560 It's exactly like a short circuit, but on a planetary scale. 105 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:11.000 This reconnection just rips open the boundary of our magnetosphere. 106 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:14.120 It's like opening a door and letting a massive amount 107 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:18.160 of solar energy, momentum and charge particles poured directly into 108 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:18.800 our environment. 109 00:05:18.839 --> 00:05:21.839 And the Gannon storm had that southward bruss. 110 00:05:21.959 --> 00:05:25.600 It had a sustained, powerful southward pointing bruhs, and that's 111 00:05:25.639 --> 00:05:29.120 what allowed for the maximum let's call it coupling between 112 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:32.079 the solar wind and our magnetosphere. It was the perfect storm. 113 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:35.399 So the store hits on May tenth, twenty twenty four, 114 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:40.720 and this intense magnetized plasma just slams into us, and 115 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:44.079 our protective layers react pretty much instantly. 116 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:47.360 Almost instantly. The major compression phase, the big squeeze only 117 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:48.600 lasted about nine hours. 118 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:51.959 Nine hours. That rapid energy transfer just tells you how 119 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:53.959 powerful that southward bruise must have been. 120 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:56.560 It really does. But before we get into the details 121 00:05:56.600 --> 00:06:00.439 of the squeeze, we should probably define what exactly got squeeze. 122 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:02.639 We need to talk about the plasmosphere, right. 123 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:04.360 And for everyone listening, this isn't the same thing as 124 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:06.800 the magnetosphere itself, right, It's a structure inside of. 125 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:10.199 It, exactly. It's an infrastructure, but it's vital for our protection. 126 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:13.279 Okay, So let's break down the shield. What's the plasmosphere 127 00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:15.079 made of and why do we care so much if 128 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:15.920 it gets damaged. 129 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:19.560 The plasmosphere is this dense, kind of doughnut shaped region 130 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:24.839 of pretty cold plasma, so low energy charged particles mostly hydrogen, 131 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:29.120 ions and electrons. It sits deep inside the magnetosphere and 132 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:30.360 it co rotates. 133 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:32.839 With the Earth, and its job is what a buffer. 134 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:35.120 A buffer is a perfect way to put it. It 135 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:38.439 stabilizes the electric and magnetic fields in that inner region, 136 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:45.000 and critically, it absorbs and sort of neutralizes a lot 137 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.480 of the less energetic particles that try to get into 138 00:06:47.480 --> 00:06:49.439 our environment. It's a key part of our fielding. 139 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:52.160 So what happens to all our satellites that live in 140 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:56.079 or near that region If the plasmosphere is compromised. 141 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:59.680 Two bad things happen. First, the protective environment is just gone, 142 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:03.680 so satellites are exposed to much higher energy particle radiation 143 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:05.879 that normally gets filtered out. And the second thing, the 144 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:09.959 second is often more insidious. The outer boundary of the plasmosphere, 145 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:12.879 we call it the plasmo pause, is a region of instability. 146 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:15.720 When that gets compressed, it moves closer to all those 147 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:17.759 vital geosynchronous orbits. 148 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:21.759 Where our communications satellites are exactly and the extreme changes 149 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:24.439 in the electric fields there can cause something called satellite 150 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:25.240 surface charging. 151 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:28.439 It's like giving the satellite a dangerous static electricity jolt. 152 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:30.519 It can totally disrupt its electronics. 153 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:34.519 So Superstorm Gannon was basically a brutal real world stress 154 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:35.920 test for this entire. 155 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:37.240 Region, the ultimate stress test. 156 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:40.279 Okay, so let's unpack that stress test. We know the 157 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:44.600 plasmasphere is this vast charge bubble in its normal state. 158 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:47.879 Let's get into the specifics. What are the baseline measurements? 159 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:49.480 How big is it normally. 160 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:53.800 Under normal quiet conditions? It's huge. We define its outer boundary, 161 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:56.839 the plasmo pause, as the point where that plasma density 162 00:07:56.959 --> 00:07:58.199 just drops off sharply. 163 00:07:58.279 --> 00:07:59.120 And where is that? 164 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:03.240 Usually that boundary typically sits about forty four thousand kilometers 165 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:04.240 above the Earth surface. 166 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:06.079 Forty four thousand kilometers right. 167 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:08.800 It's about six point six earth RADII. It's a really 168 00:08:08.839 --> 00:08:10.680 comfortable commence buffer zone. 169 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:14.240 And just for context, that forty four thousand kilometer baseline 170 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:17.480 is well beyond the orbits of our most crucial communication 171 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:22.040 satellites geosynchronous orbit is what around thirty six thousand kilometer. 172 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:24.079 That's right about thirty five thousand, seven hundred and eighty 173 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:26.920 six to be precise. So the plasma pause normally provides 174 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:30.079 this crucial protection around that whole geo belt of satellites, 175 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:34.240 But during Gannon that high speed southward magnetized CME just 176 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:36.440 crushed it, violently crushed it inward. 177 00:08:36.519 --> 00:08:38.000 So how far inward are we talking? Give us the 178 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:39.840 numbers again, because they're just staggering. 179 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:42.879 The outer boundary was force fully compressed down to an 180 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:46.000 altitude of just nine thousand, six hundred kilometers above the 181 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:46.679 Earth's surface. 182 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:49.000 Nine thousand, six hundred that's it's. 183 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:51.960 An astonishingly low altitude. To put that in perspective, that's 184 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:55.279 barely above medium Earth Orbit MOO, which is where a 185 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:57.279 lot of our key GPS satellites operate. 186 00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:01.039 So if I'm doing the math right, thelo asmosphere's radius 187 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:04.720 shrank by over seventy five percent. The whole protective layer 188 00:09:04.759 --> 00:09:07.679 collapse to about one fifth of its normal. 189 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:08.840 Size, about a fifth of its volume. 190 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:11.919 Yes, in just nine hours. Does the data give us 191 00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:16.519 any insight into the physics that drove that incredibly fast collapse. 192 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:19.399 It does. It's driven by something called the enhanced convection 193 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:20.360 electric field. 194 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:21.200 Okay, what's that. 195 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:24.519 It's generated by that magnetic reconnection we talked about. When 196 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:27.879 the southward BROS tears open the magnetosphere, it drives this 197 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:32.440 massive short circuit current across the polar caps and that 198 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:34.919 creates these incredibly powerful electric. 199 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:37.600 Fields, and those electric fields are what stripped the plasma 200 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:38.759 away exactly. 201 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:43.519 They act like a massive centrifuge. Plasma inside the magnetosphere 202 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:47.200 gets caught in this flow and is rapidly spun towards 203 00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:49.240 the outer boundary where it just gets stripped away by 204 00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:49.879 the solar winds. 205 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:52.639 So the boundary gets pushed dramatically. 206 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:56.320 Inward, dramatically it carves out that immense plasma layer and 207 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.639 just leaves this depleted inner region. The fact that it 208 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:02.879 happened in only nine hours, it just shows you the 209 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.600 incredible strength of those storm time electric fields. 210 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:07.600 And this isn't just a theory, right, this is a 211 00:10:07.879 --> 00:10:12.360 measured physical reality. This is the big scientific achievement here, 212 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:14.399 moving from models to direct measurement. 213 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:18.399 That's the leap forward. Before Ganon, we had data from 214 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:23.320 smaller storms, sure, but getting continuous high res institute measurements 215 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:26.879 from inside the collapsing plasmosphere during a G five event 216 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:29.600 that was basically impossible. 217 00:10:29.639 --> 00:10:31.279 The satellites were in the wrong place, or we didn't 218 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:32.679 have the right instrument precisely. 219 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:36.080 The Gannon event just provided this unprecedented level of detail. 220 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:38.919 And having that detail knowing exactly how that boundary moves 221 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:42.519 and how fast. That's absolutely critical for future planning, isn't it. 222 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:45.559 It's the difference between guessing and predicting. It really is 223 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:49.200 knowing a storm this intense can drive the plasma pause 224 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:52.480 down to nine thy six hundred kilometers right into key 225 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:57.440 operational orbits that lets engineers build better resilience into future satellites. 226 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:00.159 So it tells you how much radiation shielding you need 227 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:03.159 where you're likely to get these electrical surges exactly. 228 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:07.000 It moves space weather forecasting from a sort of qualitative hey, 229 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:10.279 a storm is coming, to a quantitative risk assessment tool. 230 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:12.639 The risk at this orbit will be x for y 231 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:14.320 number of hours. That's the goal. 232 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:17.519 The success of this study really seems to hinge on 233 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:19.960 just being in the right place at the right time, 234 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:22.639 hitting a scientific lottery almost. 235 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:23.879 That's a good way to put it. A twenty year 236 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:26.240 storm hits right when you have the perfect instruments in 237 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:27.080 the perfect position. 238 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:30.159 So let's talk about the key instrument here, the Erase satellite. 239 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:32.960 The Erase satellite was the hero of this whole observation. 240 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:36.879 It's a JAXA mission launched back in twenty sixteen. 241 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:39.879 JAXA is the Japanese space agency right. 242 00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:43.960 And its name ERASE actually means rough C or stormy C. 243 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:47.840 How fitting, incredibly fitting. Its whole mission is specialized. It 244 00:11:47.879 --> 00:11:50.679 flies in this elliptical orbit that dips low through the 245 00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:53.639 inner magnetosphere and then swings way out through the heart 246 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:57.919 of the plasmosphere. It's designed specifically to study how this 247 00:11:58.000 --> 00:11:59.559 region responds to storms. 248 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:02.960 So what instruments on a Race actually confirmed that the 249 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:06.840 boundary collapsed from forty four thousand kilometers down to nine thousand, 250 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:07.559 six hundred. 251 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:10.879 The most critical data came from its suite of plasma 252 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:15.080 and wave instruments, specifically the Plasma Wave Experiment and the 253 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:17.360 soft Electron and ion spectrometer. 254 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:18.320 And what do those do? 255 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:21.480 They're designed to measure the density, the temperature, and the 256 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:23.960 composition of the plasma in real time. So as that 257 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:27.720 plasma pause swept past a Rase's orbit, the satellite recorded 258 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:30.960 this abrupt several orders of magnitude drop in the cold 259 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:32.240 plasma density. 260 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:33.399 So it flew right through the boundary. 261 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:35.639 It flew right through it and measured the cliff edge 262 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:38.519 drop that confirmed the boundary had retreated sharply to an 263 00:12:38.519 --> 00:12:39.840 altitude below its position. 264 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.919 So a rice gave us the direct in place evidence 265 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:46.720 of the shield collapsing. But the team at Nagoya University, 266 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.320 led by doctor at Suki Shinbori, they did more than that. 267 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:54.600 They synchronized the satellite data with ground based measurements. 268 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:58.039 Yes, and that dual approach is what made this study 269 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.320 so powerful, especially when it came to understanding the recovery 270 00:13:01.639 --> 00:13:05.240 how so well. They used a RAISE to track the plasmosphere, 271 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:08.559 but at the same time they were monitoring the ionosphere 272 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:12.120 that's the layer below the plasmosphere, using a huge network 273 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:14.200 of ground based GPS receivers. 274 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.399 How can you use GPS to monitor the ionosphere? 275 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:20.039 It's actually a really clever method. We can figure out 276 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:22.399 the state of the ionosphere by measuring something called the 277 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:24.000 total electron content. 278 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:25.440 Or tech total electron content. 279 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:28.720 Right, GPS signals have to travel through the ionosphere to 280 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.559 get to a receiver on the ground. The free electrons 281 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:35.559 in the ionosphere cause a tiny but measurable delay in 282 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:36.840 that signal's travel time. 283 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:38.960 So you measure the delay and that tells you how 284 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:41.000 many electrons are up there exactly. 285 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:46.080 Using very precise dual frequency GPS receivers, scientists can calculate 286 00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:49.120 that time delay and from that they can quantify the tech. 287 00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:52.080 So if the ionosphere is full of electrons and ions, 288 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:55.080 the delay is high. If it's depleted, the delay is low. 289 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:57.759 And that's the key link here. The ionosphere is the 290 00:13:57.799 --> 00:13:58.440 supply chain. 291 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:01.000 It's the supply chain. It's where the charged particles that 292 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:04.600 are needed to refill the plasmosphere, those hydrogen ions are 293 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:06.559 generated and stream upwards. 294 00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:09.000 So if your GPS data shows that the tech is 295 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:10.600 dropping everywhere. 296 00:14:10.279 --> 00:14:13.919 It means your source material for refilling the plasmosphere is compromised. 297 00:14:14.279 --> 00:14:18.559 And the Nagoya team perfectly synchronized the erase density measurements 298 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:22.399 from space with the ground based tech measurements. They proved 299 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.919 that the long recovery delay up in space was directly 300 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:27.759 caused by this massive drop in the particles supplied from below. 301 00:14:27.879 --> 00:14:31.600 That's incredible, connecting a satellite flying thousands of kilometers up 302 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:34.080 with a receiver on the ground, all through a tiny 303 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:37.960 signal delay. It shows just how complex space weather observation 304 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:38.519 has become. 305 00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:41.720 It really does. It's not about isolated observations anymore. It's 306 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:43.759 about a unified system wide. 307 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:47.159 Analysis, and that brings us right to the central mystery 308 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:52.559 of the Gannon storm. The nine hour compression violent but 309 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:55.799 sort of expected for a storm this big. What wasn't 310 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:59.919 expected was how sluggish the recovery was. The shield broke fast, 311 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:04.279 but the repair job took forever. What's the normal recovery time? 312 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:08.279 Historically for a moderate or even a strong storm, the 313 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:11.639 plasma sphere starts to refill pretty quickly. It usually gets 314 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:14.399 back to pre storm density levels within say. 315 00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:16.399 A day or two, so twenty four to forty eight 316 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:17.240 hours about that. 317 00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:21.120 Yeah, The magnetic field bounces back, the electric field weakens, 318 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:23.919 and the natural flow of plasma from the ionosphere starts 319 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:25.919 replenishing those depleted regions. 320 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.000 But with Gannon, that process stretched over four full days. 321 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:32.120 Four days, which is at least double the typical recovery time. 322 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:34.919 It's the longest sustained depletion that a RaSE has observed 323 00:15:34.919 --> 00:15:36.799 since its mission began in twenty seventeen. 324 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:39.639 So why why did the supply changes dry up for 325 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:40.159 so long? 326 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:42.279 This is where the physics of the compression gives way 327 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:46.080 to the invisible but incredibly powerful chemistry of the upper atmosphere. 328 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:47.840 Chemistry not physics, right. 329 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:51.399 The critical mechanism delaying everything is a phenomenon. We call 330 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:52.320 the negative storm. 331 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:56.080 Okay, a negative storm, let's define that because it sounds 332 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:58.720 like a particle drought. But you're saying it's caused by 333 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:00.759 the storm's energy, not a lack of it. 334 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:04.600 That's the paradox of it. The superstorm injects an immense 335 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:08.080 amount of energy into the polar regions. That energy is 336 00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:12.200 mostly from accelerated particles and strong electric currents. It intensely 337 00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:16.320 heats the upper layer of the atmosphere, the thermosphere. That 338 00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:17.799 heating is the trigger. 339 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:21.679 How does heating the atmosphere cause a drought of charged particles? 340 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:23.120 It feels counterintuitive. 341 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:27.200 It does. The heating fundamentally changes the atmosphere composition. It's 342 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:31.279 a process called upwelling. Normally, the ionosphere is dominated by 343 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:34.759 lighter atoms like atomic oxygen and hydrogen, but the intense 344 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:38.320 heating near the poles causes that neutral atmosphere to expand 345 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:41.679 and rise, and as it rises, it drags up heavier 346 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:45.600 molecular gases from lower altitudes, mostly molecular nitrogen end to 347 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:47.440 and molecular oxygen O two. 348 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:51.000 So the storm basically pumps heavy gas molecules up into 349 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:53.559 a region where they don't normally belong exactly. 350 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:57.519 It completely changes the chemical balance, and these heavier molecules 351 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:02.120 into and OH two the incredibly effective at capturing free electrons. 352 00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:04.359 It's a process called recombination. 353 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:06.160 So they basically mop up all the free charges. 354 00:17:06.359 --> 00:17:09.640 They act like a massive chemical drain. The rate at 355 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:15.200 which free electrons recombine with positive ions just accelerates dramatically, 356 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:17.759 so all the electrons and positive ions that should be 357 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:21.920 available to stream up and refill the plasmisphere you're just 358 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:25.400 rapidly getting neutralized back into plain old gas molecules. 359 00:17:25.559 --> 00:17:27.759 So, just to be clear, if the storm had only 360 00:17:27.799 --> 00:17:30.559 compressed the magnetic field, the recovery would have been pretty quick. 361 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:33.400 It would have been but because the storm also caused 362 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:36.920 this chemical shift, this upwelling of heavy gas, it broke 363 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:38.319 the particle production line. 364 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:40.960 It broke the supply chain by destroying the raw materials. 365 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:44.559 The key raw material for refilling the plasmosphere is the 366 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:48.640 atomic oxygen ion O plus, and oplus reacts with hydrogen 367 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:51.519 to produce the lighter hydrogen ions H plus meat that 368 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:55.039 stream upward. But when the ionospheres is suddenly flooded with 369 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:58.119 N two and O two, the oplus ions just rapidly 370 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:00.720 recombined with them. Instead, it stops the from producing the 371 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:02.039 hplus needed for the refill. 372 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:04.559 And this negative storm effect, it wasn't just at the polls, 373 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:04.920 was it. 374 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:08.480 It spread, It spread globally. The data shows that the 375 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:12.119 changes in atmospheric circulation driven by that intense polar heating 376 00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:16.680 rapidly transported this chemically altered air mass across vast areas 377 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:17.839 down towards the. 378 00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:20.720 Equator, which is why the GPS network saw that tech 379 00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:22.160 drop everywhere. 380 00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:26.920 Precisely. That widespread depletion ensured that the plasmosphere's refill mechanism 381 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:31.079 was compromised, not just locally, but globally for four straight days. 382 00:18:31.160 --> 00:18:33.920 And this link. This is the big takeaway, isn't it. 383 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:38.160 Had we ever empirically documented this exact sequence before the heating, 384 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:42.039 the upwelling, the recombination leading to a four day depletion. 385 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:44.559 We had theoretical models that suggested this could happen, but 386 00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:48.960 the Gannin storm provided the definitive, continuous, multilayer. 387 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:49.720 Proof, the smoking gun. 388 00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:53.039 The smoking gun, the simultaneous data from a race in 389 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:57.519 space and the GPS network on the ground offered irrefutable proof. 390 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:02.079 It's the negative storm's chemical can over the system's recovery speed. 391 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.720 And this is a huge realization for space weather forecasting. 392 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:09.640 Why because means the threat level stays high long after 393 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:12.920 the initial solar shock has passed. The true duration of 394 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:17.160 risk is dictated by upper atmosphere chemistry, not just plasma physics. 395 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:20.000 Okay, so let's shift from that invisible chemistry to the 396 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:24.079 visible drama and the real world damage. The compression of 397 00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:26.960 the shield was so extreme that millions of people got 398 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:31.279 this breath taking spectacle auroras way outside their normal homes. 399 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:34.519 That was the most obvious sign of this form's intensity. Normally, 400 00:19:34.599 --> 00:19:37.000 you know, auroras are confined to these narrow bands around 401 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:40.319