A Sydney University physics graduate student for the first time was successful in observing that the huge energies in the ionosphere get shifted around in plasma tubes.

The research was published in Geophysical Research Letters and was conducted by the graduate student Cleo Loi, showing that the plasmasphere, a region of the Earth's magnetosphere consisting of low energy plasma, gets strongly aligned with earth's magnetic field.

The Murchison Widefield Array, one of the precursor projects to the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA), was used to capture binocular images to show the plasma tubes forming in the upper atmosphere.

The work supported by the Centre for All-Sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), sought to confirm using observing 60-year-old theories about the structures.

As per experts, the ducts, cylindrical structures in the plasmasphere aligned with the Earth's magnetic field, are worth observing since plasmasphere activity interferes with satellite communications and navigation systems.

In order to measure the plasma ducts, Loi and the CASTRO's research team took almost 46 snapshots with the MWA, each covering about 30° of the sky.

The collected snapshots allowed the researchers to measure how much a bunch of known radio sources seemed to be 'offset' from their proper position. Splitting the MWA's 128 antennas east-west allowed them to measure the altitudes of the ducts around 600 km high. Some other measurements taken from the array showed a regularity that suggested that the ducts' are cylindrical in shape.

Loi said in a statement that they were able to measure the spacing between the plasma ducts, their height and their steep inclination.

"We measured their position to be about 600 kilometers above the ground, in upper ionosphere, and they appear to be continuing upwards into plasmasphere. This is around where neutral atmosphere ends, and we are transitioning to plasma of outer space", he said.