During geomagnetic storms, the sun drives auroral plasma turbulence that disrupts GPS signals. This turbulence spans sizes from hundreds of kilometers to meters, but most instruments see only a narrow slice. We combined radar and GPS receiver data to build a continuous turbulence spectrum across four orders of magnitude in scale, validated by satellite conjunctions. The spectrum suggests the ionosphere directly mirrors magnetospheric energy input, providing a baseline for space weather models.

With an ongoing mass loss the Antarctic Ice Sheet contributes to global-mean sea level rise at a rate of 0.4 mm/a. Thus, it plays a key role in global climate and provides a natural laboratory to study processes that interlink cryosphere, solid Earth, atmosphere and ocean. We discuss how GNSS and seismic networks in Antarctica were used to significantly advance our understanding of these processes, and how they should be maintained and extended to answer key science questions in the future.

The solar wind interaction with Earth’s magnetic field deposits energy into the upper portion of the atmosphere at high latitudes. The coupling process that modulates the ionospheric convection and intensity of ionospheric currents leads to formation of densely ionized patches convecting across the polar cap. The ionospheric currents launch traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) propagating equatorward. The polar cap patches and TIDs are then observed by networks of radars and GPS receivers.