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Relationship of the atmosphere and ionosphere. The ionosphere (/ aɪ ˈ ɒ n ə ˌ s f ɪər /) [1] [2] is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about 48 km (30 mi) to 965 km (600 mi) above sea level, [3] a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere.
The Earth–ionosphere waveguide [1] is the phenomenon in which certain radio waves can propagate in the space between the ground and the boundary of the ionosphere. Because the ionosphere contains charged particles, it can behave as a conductor. The earth operates as a ground plane, and the resulting cavity behaves as a large waveguide.
The lower part of the thermosphere, from 80 to 550 kilometres (50 to 342 mi) above Earth's surface, contains the ionosphere. The temperature of the thermosphere gradually increases with height and can rise as high as 1500 °C (2700 °F), though the gas molecules are so far apart that its temperature in the usual sense is not very meaningful.
This is when bubbles can form in the ionosphere. Earth’s magnetic field lines also carry charged particles free-floating in the atmosphere to two dense bands north and south of the equator that ...
The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Atmospheric electricity is an interdisciplinary topic with a long history, involving concepts from electrostatics , atmospheric physics , meteorology and Earth science .
Radio waves (black) reflecting off the ionosphere (red) during skywave propagation. Line altitude in this image is significantly exaggerated and not to scale. In radio communication, skywave or skip refers to the propagation of radio waves reflected or refracted back toward Earth from the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere.
Earth is rounded into an ellipsoid with a circumference of about 40,000 km. It is the densest planet in the Solar System. Of the four rocky planets, it is the largest and most massive. Earth is about eight light-minutes away from the Sun and orbits it, taking a year (about 365.25 days) to complete one revolution.
TEC plot for the continental USA, made on 2013-11-24. Total electron content (TEC) is an important descriptive quantity for the ionosphere of the Earth. TEC is the total number of electrons integrated between two points, along a tube of one meter squared cross section, i.e., the electron columnar number density.