I’ve not heard of this phenomenon, but Spaceweather.com supplies information, both current and what they plan to research:
Researchers have long known that one of the van Allen Radiation Belts dips down toward Earth over South America, creating a zone of high radiation called “The South Atlantic Anomaly” (SAA). Since its discovery in 1958, the SAA has been shape-shifting, growing larger and intensifying. A map published just last week in the American Geophysical Union’s journal Space Weather Quarterly outlines the anomaly with new precision:
When a spacecraft in low-Earth orbit passes through the anomaly, “the radiation causes faults in spacecraft electronics and can induce false instrument readings,” explains Bob Schaefer of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, lead author of the paper reporting the results. “We actually used these spurious signals to map out the radiation environment at an altitude of 850 km.” …
According to orthodox thinking, the SAA reaches down from space to within about 200 km of Earth’s surface. Below that altitude, its effects should be mitigated by the shielding of Earth’s atmosphere and geomagnetic field. To test this idea, Spaceweather.com and Earth to Sky Calculus have undertaken a program to map the SAA from below using weather balloons equipped with radiation sensors. Next week we will share the results of our first flight from a launch site in Chile. Stay tuned!
For those wondering about a correlation with Earth’s gravitational anomalies, here’s a recent map from the European Space Agency:
ESA Gravitational Map (from UniverseToday)
Doesn’t look strong from this visual inspection.
