Magnetosphere
![Van Allen radiation belt [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]](https://web.archive.org/web/20160703085345im_/https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/31/6031-004-89E5D4FB.jpg)
Van Allen radiation beltEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.The overall structure of the outer ionosphere—the magnetosphere—is strongly influenced by the configuration of Earth’s magnetic field. Close to the planet’s surface, the magnetic field has a structure similar to that of an ideal dipole. Field lines are oriented more or less vertically at high latitudes, sweep back over the Equator, where they are essentially horizontal, and connect to Earth in a symmetrical pattern at high latitudes. The field departs from this ideal dipolar configuration, however, at high altitudes. There the terrestrial field, Earth’s magnetic field, is distorted to a significant extent by the solar wind, with its embedded solar magnetic field. Ultimately the terrestrial field is dominated by the interplanetary field, which is generated by the Sun.
The solar wind compresses the magnetic field on Earth’s dayside at a distance of about 10 Earth radii, or almost 65,000 km (40,000 miles) from the planet. At this distance the magnetic field is so weak that the pressure associated with particles escaping from Earth’s gravity is comparable to the opposing pressure associated with the solar wind. This equilibrium region, with a characteristic thickness of 100 km (60 miles), is called the magnetopause and marks the outer boundary of the magnetosphere. The lower boundary of the magnetosphere is several hundred kilometres above Earth’s surface.
On the nightside, the terrestrial field is stretched out in a giant tail that reaches past the orbit of the Moon, extending perhaps to distances in excess of 1,000 Earth radii. The magnetotail can extend to such great distances because on the nightside the forces associated with the magnetic field and the solar wind are parallel.
The outermost regions of the magnetosphere are exceedingly complex, especially at high latitudes, where terrestrial field lines are open to space. Ionization from the solar wind can leak into the magnetosphere in a number of ways. It can enter by turbulent exchange at the dayside magnetopause or more directly at cusps in the magnetopause at high latitudes where closed loops of the magnetic field on the dayside meet fields connecting to the magnetotail. In addition, it can enter at large distances on the nightside, where the magnetic pressure is relatively low and where field lines can reconnect readily, providing easy access to the giant plasma sheet in the interior of Earth’s magnetotail.
The magnetosheath, a region of magnetic turbulence in which both the magnitude and the direction of Earth’s magnetic field vary erratically, occurs between 10 and 13 Earth radii toward the Sun. This disturbed region is thought to be caused by the production of magnetohydrodynamic shock waves, which in turn are caused by high-velocity solar wind particles. Ahead of this bow shock boundary, toward the Sun, is the undisturbed solar wind.
Auroras
![southern lights [Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center/Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory]](https://web.archive.org/web/20160703085345im_/https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/12/76812-004-EEA8843E.jpg)
southern lightsNASA/Johnson Space Center/Earth Sciences and Image Analysis LaboratoryAuroras are perhaps the most spectacular manifestations of the complex interaction of the solar wind with the outer atmosphere. The energetic electrons and protons responsible for an aurora are directed by the solar wind along magnetic fields into Earth’s magnetosphere.
![auroral oval [Credit: NASA]](https://web.archive.org/web/20160703085345im_/https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/10/76810-004-DE63D1C8.jpg)
auroral ovalNASAAuroras occur in both hemispheres, confined for the most part to high latitudes in oval-shaped regions that maintain a more or less fixed orientation with respect to the Sun. The centre of the auroral oval is displaced a few degrees to the nightside with respect to the geomagnetic pole. The midnight portion of the oval is, on average, at a geomagnetic latitude of 67°; the midday portion is at about 76°. An observer between 67° and 74° magnetic latitudes generally encounters auroras twice a day—once in evening and once in morning.
Auroral zones
The portion of Earth that traverses the midnight portion of the auroral oval is known as the auroral zone. In the Northern Hemisphere this zone lies along a curve extending from the northern regions of Scandinavia through Iceland, the southern tip of Greenland, the southern region of Hudson Bay, central Alaska, and on to the coast of Siberia. This is the prime region from which to view an aurora in the Northern Hemisphere. The phenomenon is by no means static, however. The auroral zone shifts poleward at times of low solar activity, while during periods of high solar activity it has been known to move as far south as 40° (geographic latitude). At low latitudes, an aurora assumes a characteristic red colour. In ancient times this colour was often interpreted as evidence of impending disaster. More recently it has been taken as a sign of approaching fires. Auroras assume a variety of forms, depending on the vantage point from which they are observed. The luminosity of an aurora is generally aligned with the magnetic field. Field lines are close to vertical in polar regions, and so an aurora occurring there appears to stand on end, hanging from the sky in great luminous drapes. It is a spectacular sight indeed, especially if viewed from a distance either from the north or south. At lower latitudes, the magnetic field lines are inclined with respect to the vertical. There an aurora appears as streamers radiating from the zenith. Such is the majesty of the aurora that no two displays are totally alike. Light can move rapidly across the sky on some occasions, and at other times it can appear to stand in place, flickering on and off.
Causes of auroral displays
The most common type of aurora is associated with bombardment of the atmosphere by electrons with energies of up to 10,000 electron volts. The energy source for these electrons originates ultimately from the Sun. It is propagated through space by the solar wind along bundled, ropelike magnetic fields that form temporarily between the Sun and Earth’s magnetosphere, most probably to the plasma sheet. Energetic electrons enter the atmosphere along magnetic field lines. They produce a shower of secondary and tertiary electrons, approximately one for every 35 electron volts of energy in the primary stream. Primaries can propagate to altitudes as low as 100 km (60 miles). Most of the luminosity is produced, however, by low-energy secondary and tertiary electrons. Prominent emissions in the spectrum of this luminosity are associated with the red line of atomic oxygen at 633 nm, the green line of atomic oxygen at 558 nm, the first negative bands of ionized molecular nitrogen at 391 nm and 428 nm, and a host of emissions from atomic oxygen, molecular oxygen, ionized molecular oxygen, and molecular nitrogen. Many of these features are present also in the day and night airglow. They are most notable in auroras because of their intensity and the rapidity with which they switch on and off in response to changes in the flux and energy of incoming primaries. An aurora has a characteristic red colour if the energy of primaries is relatively low. Emission in this case is dominated by atomic oxygen and is confined for the most part to altitudes above 250 km (150 miles). If the energy of the primaries is high, an aurora has a greenish blue colour and extends downward to altitudes as low as 90 km (55 miles).
Auroral displays are also produced by bombardment of the atmosphere by energetic protons. Protons with energies of up to 200,000 electron volts are responsible for auroral activity in a diffuse belt that is equatorward of the main auroral zone. These protons can be detected from the ground by observation of Doppler-shifted radiation emitted by fast hydrogen atoms formed by charge transfer from atmospheric atoms and molecules. Protons also play a role at higher latitudes, especially at times following major solar flares. It is thought that the protons responsible for auroras at the polar caps are solar in origin. Associated energies may reach as high as one million electron volts, and particles may penetrate as deep as 80 km (50 miles). Polar cap auroras can provide a significant transient source of mesospheric and stratospheric nitric oxide (NO). They can be responsible for small but detectable short-term fluctuations in the abundance of stratospheric ozone.
Van Allen radiation belts
The magnetosphere includes two doughnut-shaped radiation belts, or zones, centred on the Equator that are occupied by appreciable numbers of energetic protons and electrons trapped in the outermost reaches of the atmosphere. No real gap exists between the two zones; they actually merge gradually, with the flux of charged particles showing two regions of maximum density. The inner belt extends from roughly 1,000 to 5,000 km (600 to 3,000 miles) above the terrestrial surface and the outer belt from some 15,000 to 25,000 km (9,300 to 15,500 miles). The belts were named in honour of James A. Van Allen, the American physicist who discovered them in 1958. His was a triumph of serendipity—he detected the presence of the trapped particles with a Geiger counter designed to measure the flux of cosmic rays in space. It was the first great discovery of the space age and was achieved by combining data obtained with instruments carried by three of the earliest United States scientific satellites—Explorer 1, Explorer 4, and Pioneer 3.
The flux of protons crossing a square centimetre of surface in the inner Van Allen belt can be as large as 20,000 per second, higher than the flux of cosmic radiation in space by a factor of 10,000. Protons in the inner belt have energies in excess of 7 × 108 electron volts, enough to enable them to penetrate about 10 cm (4 inches) of lead. Spacecraft flying through the belts must be protected; otherwise, their electronic components would be subjected to irreparable damages.
The high-energy protons in the inner Van Allen belt are thought to originate from the decay of neutrons that are produced by the interaction of the atmosphere with energetic cosmic rays of galactic origin. Some of these short-lived neutrons—they have a lifetime of 12 minutes—are ejected upward. A fraction of them decay into energetic protons and electrons as they pass through the region occupied by the Van Allen belts. These protons and electrons become trapped and travel in spiral paths along the flux lines of Earth’s magnetic field. The particles reverse their direction at intermediate altitudes (about 500 km [300 miles]) and low latitudes because, as the particles approach either of the magnetic poles, the increase in the strength of the field causes them to be reflected back toward the other pole. Collisions with atoms in the thin atmosphere eventually remove the particles from the belts, but they generally survive for about 10 years. This relatively long lifetime allows particles to accumulate in the radiation belts, providing high fluxes despite the small magnitude of the intrinsic source.
The inner belt merges gradually with the outer belt, which extends from about two to eight Earth radii. A portion of the ionization in the outer belt is derived from the solar wind, as demonstrated by the presence of helium ions in addition to protons. Unlike the outer zone, the inner belt contains no helium ions, while it has been established that helium ions account for about 10 percent of solar wind. The flux of electrons in the outer belt can vary by orders of magnitude over intervals as short as a few days. These changes appear to correlate with times of strong magnetic disturbances. They are not, however, as yet well understood.
