The total solar eclipse in April will be accompanied across the United States, Mexico, and Canada by unique studies on gravitational waves, air holes, and dazzling solar displays.
Impact of the eclipse on the atmosphere and weather
A team led by Angela Des Jardins from Montana State University plans to send hundreds of balloons equipped with measuring devices to altitudes of up to 35 kilometers in the air during the eclipse to track its impact on Earth’s atmosphere and weather. Under the moon’s shadow, air temperatures can plummet suddenly by more than five degrees Celsius (about 10 degrees Fahrenheit) – a disruption that can send wide gravitational waves, known as gravity waves, rippling through the lower cloud layers. “Gravity waves are essentially pressure waves in the atmosphere,” she says. “They are important because they really dominate mixing in the atmosphere and energy transfer. Understanding them in the context of climate variability is significant.”
Impact of the eclipse on wildlife and human activity
Tyler Winter, a lead scientist at the Advanced Research Lab in Integration and Access to Education in Massachusetts, will be tracking something completely different. Using pocket-sized microphone-equipped sound devices sent to hundreds of volunteers, Winter will listen to changes in the sounds of animals in and around the moon’s shadow. You can still sign up to participate in the project called “Eclipse Soundscapes.” Winter is particularly looking forward to hearing from locusts, which are expected to become more active as darkness falls for a brief period. “Many species of locusts are looking for their mates around dusk,” he says. “Overall, we expect an increase in locust sounds and calls,” although there’s always room for surprises.
Studying the eclipse to understand the Sun and corona
When the Sun is obscured by the moon, the appearance of the solar corona is one of the most striking features. This is the most developed region of the Sun’s atmosphere, extending from its surface up to millions of kilometers around the star. Confusingly, the corona can reach temperatures of millions of degrees, compared to a temperature of 5,500 degrees Celsius (10,000 degrees Fahrenheit) at the Sun’s surface or photosphere. For a long time, there has been an unanswered question in astronomy about the mechanisms involved in transferring this energy. “We don’t know what the mechanisms are that are involved in transferring this energy,” says Adam Kobelski, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. A solar eclipse provides a rare opportunity to observe the corona in stunning detail, as the moon obscures the sun more deeply than humans can create. “Nothing works well to block the overwhelming light coming from the deep layers of the Sun’s surface,” says Alexandra Tritschler from the National Solar Observatory.
Studying the corona and magnetic fields
Two spacecraft – the Parker Solar Probe and the Solar Dynamics Observatory – along with the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, which produces high-resolution images of the Sun – will study the corona alongside Cassini. The Daniel K. Inouye Telescope will only observe a partial eclipse from its location, but importantly it will work in conjunction with its spaceborne counterparts as the eclipse passes over North America, providing multiple viewing angles of the corona to complement Cassini’s observations. This enhanced view will provide “an incredible opportunity, for the first time, to measure the magnetic fields of the corona,” according to Tritschler, the program scientist for the Daniel K. Inouye Observatory operations. It will allow scientists to understand how to “link the magnetic field to the outer and inner parts of the corona.” In addition to helping to determine the puzzling physics of coronal heating, understanding how the Sun’s magnetic field spreads through this mysterious region could lead to more accurate forecasts of space weather bursts headed toward Earth.
Radio
Amateurs and the Science of Solar Eclipses
Amateur radio will be another source for the science of solar eclipses. Nathaniel Frissell from the University of Scranton will coordinate a team of hundreds of enthusiastic amateurs who will be transmitting radio signals to each other to observe the eclipse’s effects on the upper atmosphere of the Earth. Wherever the shadow of the moon falls, it effectively cuts a hole in the ionosphere – the ionized region of the atmosphere between 80 and 1000 kilometers above the planet’s surface. “When the eclipse occurs, the shadow blocks X-rays and ultraviolet rays from the sun,” says Frissell. “When that is blocked, ionization slows or stops.”
Typically, amateur radio operators can communicate over distances of several thousand kilometers by bouncing radio waves off the ionosphere between receivers, but the solar eclipse’s disruption of the ionosphere can change communication conditions. Frissell expects that under the moon, radio chat technology will be hindered at frequencies between about 14 to 30 megahertz, while communication at lower frequencies will be enhanced. “The eclipse creates a weaker ionosphere that bends radio signals less,” he says. But he and his team will measure the disruption to confirm that. So, when the eclipse occurs in April, through the strangest celestial phenomenon, the moon will completely block the sun to shadow the Earth below and summon the stars, although the view will evoke countless “oohs” and “aahs” from the gathered crowds, for Frissell and his team, the peak of the eclipse will be a few moments of near-total radio silence.
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