Using particle detectors on NASA's Polar spacecraft, space physicists have detected oxygen and other gases gushing from Earth's atmosphere in response to a burst of energy from the Sun. In effect, pressure from the solar ejection squeezed gas out of the ionosphere.
CMEs produce shock waves and clouds of plasma that can disturb Earth's magnetosphere.
As a shock wave from the solar wind passes through Earth's magnetosphere, it excites and compresses the magnetic field. The interaction causes cold oxygen ions to flow out of Earth's atmosphere, blowing downwind into the magnetic tail. The Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph on the SOHO spacecraft observes a coronal mass ejection leaving the Sun. The gray ball at the left is Earth, with the Sun off the screen to the left. The translucent grey area shows the boundaries of the magnetosphere.