An international team of scientists has successfully measured a planet-wide electric field thought to be as fundamental to Earth as its gravity and magnetic fields. Known as the ambipolar electric field, scientists first hypothesized over 60 years ago that it drove atmospheric escape above Earth’s North and South Poles. Measurements from a suborbital rocket have confirmed the existence of the ambipolar field and quantified its strength, revealing its role in driving atmospheric escape and shaping our ionosphere — a layer of the upper atmosphere — more broadly. The paper was published today in the journal Nature.
Category:
Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics, Heliophysics Division, Ionosphere, Science & Research, Sounding Rockets, Sounding Rockets Program
Posted on
August 28, 2024
Sign up for our newsletter:
Categories
1
6
3
1
3
1
2
44
93
2
4
1
137
21
1
2
1
2
4
110
2
11
13
10
1
5
1
29
18
163
2
13
108
1
12
21
3
55
1
33
14
6
395
6
62
33
180
4
26
14
38
3
1
2
3
25
2
18
17
13
4
3
110
3
373
48
4
1
1
13
6
1
1
15
12
1
271
57
12
34
1
5
35
5
1
360
2
8
18
5
124
1
6
1
1
11
1
155
5
2
226
10
10
2
2
10
10
1
10
1
41
1
149
10
3
20
2
1
8
3
14
14
1
30
2
640
214
45
2
17
1
4
1
1
10
1
2
37
14
26
377
1
2
18
1
47
1
7
2
296
42
44
1
5
6
7
3
1
17
29
10
16
134
1
17
33
6
1
39
1
3
1
203
105
10
1
198
1
51
10
104
353
10
1
1
68
2
Blog Posts
APOD: 2026 August 8 – A Messier Moment for Tempel 2
August 8, 2026
2026 IGARSS Hyperwall Schedule
August 7, 2026
NASA’s IXPE Studies Magnetar
August 7, 2026