Superstorm Gannon crushed Earth’s plasmasphere to 1/5th its size
The Arase satellite captured the Gannon superstorm of May 2024, squeezing Earth's plasmasphere to about one-fifth of its usual size. The storm pushed auroras far south and dramatically slowed the atmosphere's ability to recover. With key ions in the ionosphere dropping sharply, the plasmasphere took four days to rebuild instead of the usual two days.