Shuttle breakup occurred in mysterious part of atmosphere

SJ Mercury News ^ | 2/7/03 | Matthew Fordahl - AP

[NormsRevenge]

SAN JOSE, Calif.(AP) - The space shuttle Columbia broke up in a mysterious area of the upper atmosphere once so little understood and difficult to study that scientists dubbed it the "ignorosphere."

On Friday, NASA said it has asked outside atmospheric scientists for their opinion on whether some sort of electrical discharge could have occurred as the shuttle screamed toward touchdown at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

[NormsRevenge]

ignorosphere

[NormsRevenge]

Also known as the ionosphere :-)

[Dog Gone]

"Blue jets" are less often seen, possibly because of their color. They shoot out like trumpets extending as far as 30 miles from the tops of clouds.

This is the first I've heard of a shooting trumpet, although terrorists may be getting more creative.

[texson66]

"ignorosphere"

That would be the inside of ANY liberal's brain ....

[apackof2]

ignorosphere the Bermuda Triangle of space

[Eala]

"ignorosphere."

Students of Latin will understand the term. The word "Ignoro" translates to "I do not know."

[Thinkin' Gal]

It's also called the ionosphere, because the presence of free electrons - or ions.

In the words of Carroll O'Connor..

"Get the ionosphere the hell off the air."

[NormsRevenge]

The earth is a living entity unto itself, wondrous to behold, especially from space.

It's an awe-inspiring place.

It's like a loaded coil or a giant Tesla globe and the shuttle may have tripped over or triggered contact ..

The amount of power present forms and dissipates quickly and flows very fast..

and then it's gone... who knows 8-?

[tubebender]

I would sure like to know what time those photos were taken. Controlers had their first hit of trouble at 8:52 est as the shuttle just crossed the Ca coast so the problem must have started over the Pacific ocean.

[NormsRevenge]

That's where they keep the ozone , isn't it or is that lower? The Gore-osphere ;-)

[Lady Jag]

Testing for tides from below

At the heart of Ray's TIME-GCM is the region between 80 and 120 km, a realm so difficult to observe and study that some physicists have dubbed it the "ignorosphere." Its more formal name is the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT).

Maura Hagan.

Maura Hagan has been at HAO for three years studying one of the MLT's most interesting aspects: atmospheric tides. These are global-scale variations in wind, temperature, and pressure tied to solar input. They occur throughout the atmosphere on a regular basis--diurnally and semidiurnally (once and twice daily), with smaller tides at more frequent intervals. The tides move westward with the sun, driven by solar radiation and its absorption and reemission at various heights.

"We've known about atmospheric tides for a long time," says Maura. One of the oldest clues is a long-documented trend in surface air pressures near the equator that shows a small but distinct rise and fall every 12 hours. But the ignorosphere's lack of data prevented tracing details of the tides' influence there--until recently.

To take a closer look at tides, Maura collaborated on an adaptation of a steady-state, two-dimensional model--essentially a vertical, pole-to-pole slice through the atmosphere. Because atmospheric tides move so regularly from east to west and usually persist for days or weeks, the 2-D model allowed Maura to create a climatology of the tides.

"To study the tides with the model, I specify the tidal sources inthe linearized fluid equations and calculate the wind and temperature responses," says Maura. "I think out most significant achievement has been our predictions of the seasonal variability of the diurnal tide in the MLT.

"More and more people are including tides in their models, but among linear models, ours is unique in being able to model the diurnal tide and to include the troposphere, which is the most important source region. These kinds of models complement the first-principles modeling that Ray does." For example, Ray has used the TIME-GCM to study the nonlinear effects of tides on atmospheric chemistry and dynamics.

TIME and Tides: Making Sense of the Upper Atmosphere

[BunnySlippers]

•

[Mike Darancette]

Where would the Shuttle have been when it crossed from night into day?

[Husker24]

I wish they would just let us see the damn picture!

[backhoe]

Locator ^

[deport]

I would sure like to know what time those photos were taken.

S.F. man's astounding photo Mysterious purple streak is shown hitting Columbia

The digital image is one of five snapped by the shuttle buff at roughly 5:53 a.m. Saturday as sensors on the doomed orbiter began showing the first indications of trouble. Seven minutes later, the craft broke up in flames over Texas.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

For additional general information on high atmosphere electrical phenomena see these NASA links.

http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast31jul96%5F1.htm
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/essd26may99%5F1.htm

(Discusses gamma radiation originating within storms on earth)

http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/essd10jun99%5F1.htm

(Discusses sprites, electrical discharge occuring at high altitudes above thunderstorms. )

Does anyone know if any storms were located along the approach path west of CA.when descent began?

[bribriagain]

deflectheinsulationtheoryosphere

[TLBSHOW]

This refers to the phenomena of thunder and lightning

http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/tsk/view.cgi?book=ps&chapter=68#Ps68_34

[TLBSHOW]

Cosmic bolt probed in shuttle disaster
Scientists poring over 'infrasonic' sound waves

Should the photo turn out to be an authentic image of an electrical event on Columbia, it would not only change the focus of the crash investigation, but it could open a door on a new realm of science.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/02/07/MN200326.DTL