Ionospheric absorption

The big blue sky above us is actually made up of layers of gas called the atmosphere. The layer closest to Earth is called the troposphere, where we live and breathe. But above that, there's another layer called the ionosphere.

Now, the ionosphere is kind of like a blanket that covers the Earth. It's made up of ions (or electrically charged atoms) that are formed when the sun's energy breaks apart regular atoms in the gas up there. These ions and other charged particles in the ionosphere help bounce radio waves back down to Earth, which is why we can use the radio to listen to music or talk to people far away.

However, sometimes the sun gets really active and sends out bursts of energy in the form of solar flares or coronal mass ejections. These bursts send a lot of extra energy into the ionosphere, causing it to become more charged and ionized than it normally is. This extra energy can cause the radio waves to get absorbed by the ionosphere instead of bouncing back down to Earth like they normally do.

Think of it like trying to bounce a ball on a trampoline that's been stretched too much. The ball won't bounce as high because the trampoline is absorbing some of the energy. That's what happens to radio waves during ionospheric absorption - the ionosphere is like the trampoline that's been stretched too much, so some of the radio wave energy gets absorbed.

This can cause problems for things like airplanes or satellites that rely on radio waves to navigate or communicate. Thankfully, scientists are constantly studying the activity of the sun and the ionosphere so we can predict when ionospheric absorption might happen and take steps to work around it.