Russian scientists learnt to predict ‘gaps’ in Earth’s magnetic field
The mechanism of the appearance of magnetic storms on Earth was discovered by specialists of the Siberian Federal University as part of a research team. A new mathematical tool made on the basis of statistical data obtained from artificial satellites of our planet will help predict magnetic field disturbances caused by the solar wind, with results published in the Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences journal, RIA Novosti reports.
The sun continuously emits charged particles (ions, protons, electrons), which fly away from it in all directions. This phenomenon is called the solar wind and its speed reaches 500-600km/s. According to the experts from the Siberian Federal University, flying up to Earth, solar wind particles encounter an obstacle in the form of a magnetic field (the planet’s magnetosphere) and slow down.
Scientists explained that our planet’s magnetosphere has a complex shape, elongated in the direction of the flow of charged particles from the centre of the solar system. Periodically gaps appear in this wall, through which charged particles break into the magnetosphere, causing strong magnetic field disturbances (magnetic storms) on Earth.
To understand the cause of these gaps, it is necessary to have a detailed understanding of what happens before the boundary of the magnetosphere, where the solar wind stops.
