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Schematic of the Birkeland or Field-Aligned Currents and the ionospheric current systems they connect to, Pedersen and Hall currents. [1]A Birkeland current (also known as field-aligned current, FAC) is a set of electrical currents that flow along geomagnetic field lines connecting the Earth's magnetosphere to the Earth's high latitude ionosphere.
The magnetopause, the area where the pressures balance, is the boundary of the magnetosphere. Despite its name, the magnetosphere is asymmetric, with the sunward side being about 10 Earth radii out but with the other side stretching out in a magnetotail that extends beyond 200 Earth radii. [28]
The outer boundary of the plasmasphere is known as the plasmapause, which is defined by an order of magnitude drop in plasma density. In 1963 American scientist Don Carpenter and Soviet astronomer Konstantin Gringauz [ ru ] proved the plasmasphere and plasmapause's existence from the analysis of very low frequency (VLF) whistler wave data.
The magnetopause is the area of the magnetosphere wherein the pressure from the planetary magnetic field is balanced with the pressure from the solar wind. [3] It is the convergence of the shocked solar wind from the magnetosheath with the magnetic field of the object and plasma from the magnetosphere.
A simulated charged particle, its trajectory determined primarily by the Earth's magnetosphere. The simplest magnetic field B is a constant one– straight parallel field lines and constant field intensity. In such a field, if an ion or electron enters perpendicular to the field lines, it can be shown to move in a circle (the field only needs ...
The VLF radio waves were previously thought to be generated by turbulence in the radiation belts, but recent work by J.L. Green of the Goddard Space Flight Center [citation needed] compared maps of lightning activity collected by the Microlab 1 spacecraft with data on radio waves in the radiation-belt gap from the IMAGE spacecraft; the results ...
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The ring current system consists of a band, at a distance of 3 to 8 R E, [1] which lies in the equatorial plane and circulates clockwise around the Earth (when viewed from the north). The particles of this region produce a magnetic field in opposition to the Earth's magnetic field and so an Earthly observer would observe a decrease in the ...