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Earth's Atmosphere Losing a Few Oxygen Ions to Space. Plasma Cosmology Paper Still Relevant 20 Years On...
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by mgmirkin | August 28, 2008 at 02:32 pm
1032 views | 62 Recommendations | 22 comments
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Ions and Electrons in the Electric Current Powering Earth's Auroras
uploaded by mgmirkin
One would like to think that modern science knows everything and understands all about near-Earth and deep space physical processes. But it's just not so. At least, it seems that papers explaining the actual physics get suppressed or ignored because they do not conform to the status quo.
Case in point: the recent revelation that Earth is losing minute amounts of its atmosphere, which is being slowly accelerated into space. New results from Cluster appear to confirm a paper from the Plasma Cosmology point of view written 2 decades ago that was more-or-less ignored. All things old are new again, it appears!
A recent Universe Today article informs us that Cluster has found Oxygen ions being accelerated from our atmosphere into space. It's a slow leak, and nothing to be concerned about. They've implicated variations in magnetic fields as the culprit. But they're not sure precisely how it works.
From data collected from 2001 to 2003, Cluster amassed information about beams of electrically charged oxygen atoms, known as ions, flowing outwards from the polar regions into space. Cluster also measured the strength and direction of the Earth’s magnetic field whenever the beams were present ... They discovered that the oxygen ions were being accelerated by changes in the direction of the magnetic field. “It is a bit like a sling-shot effect,” says Nilsson.
“We are beginning to realize just how many interactions can take place between the solar wind and the atmosphere,” says Nilsson. Energetic particles from the solar wind can be channeled along the magnetic field lines and, when these impact the atmosphere of the Earth, they can produce aurorae.
Plasma cosmologists have been advocating that astronomers, heliophysicists and those interested in near-Earth physical processes read up on the historical works of Kristian Birkeland, Langmuir and more recently Alfvén and Peratt.
Kristian Birkeland studied the auroras in the Early 1900's and wrote a monumental piece of science in his monograph the Norwegian Aurora Polaris Expedition 1902-1903, wherein he detailed both his in situ measurements of magnetic fields and other physical processes as well as his later lab experiments with rarefied gas discharge tubes, wherein he recreated the auroral process electrically. In 1973 and late 2007 it was verified that, in fact, sheets and filaments of electric current do in fact connect the Earth to the sun, and vice versa.
However, Birkeland's work and Alfvén's have been somewhat ignored or marginalized, despite having excellent predictive success.
Toward that end, a paper by Carl-Gunne Fälthammar is suggested reading, as it addresses precisely the issue of magnetospheric physics, including the acceleration of ions (Oxygen included), while also providing an understanding of the mechanisms involved, including electric fields, electric currents, field-aligned currents (or Birkeland currents, named after Kristian Birkeland who predicted just such structures flowing along magnetic field lines into the Earth's atmosphere from the sun), etc.
Early plasma experiements were limited essentially to cool and/or weakly-ionized plasmas. They formed the limited empirical basis on which the classical plasma theory was built. This theory was developed into a high degree of mathematical sophistication and was believed to have general validity ... When the thermonuclear effort made it possible to produce and study hot and highly ionized plasma in the laboratory, it was found that the plasma exhibited many kinds of unpredicted, 'anomalous' behavior.
[...]
Similarly, in space research it was widely believed that the cosmical plasma would have negligible resistivity, as predicted by classical formulas, and behave essentially as an ideal MHD medium. IF so, the electric field would be a secondary parameter of little importance, and magnetic-field-aligned ('parallel') electric fields out of the question. As a consequence, the electric field and especially the magnetic-field-aligned electric field, which we now know to be of crucial importance, were long disregarded. Even to this day, only very few measurements of electric fields have been made in the outer magnetosphere ... As a result of generally accepted theories, one did not until relatively recently make the appropriate measurements of outflowing ions and of magnetospheric plasma composition. Much of this delay could have been avoided, if results already known from laboratory plasma experiments had been applied to the space plasma. In fact, on this basis Hannes Alfvén proposed parallel electric fields as an accelerating mechanism for auroral primaries already in 1958, but the idea was almost universally refuted as incompatible with classical theory.
It is a sobering fact that even after hundreds of satellites had circled the Earth, the generally accepted picture of our space environment was still fundamentally wrong is aspects as basic as the existence and role of electric fields and even the origin and chemical composition of the near-Earth plasma itself. In the light of this, how can we believe in detailed theoretical models of distant astrophysical objects, until we have learned -- and applied to astrophysics -- the lessons of how real plasma behaves in the Earth's own magnetosphere.
It is sobering indeed that the physics of plasmas in our own near-space environment seem to still be more-or-less unknown and improperly / insufficiently explained.
“We can only predict these future changes if we understand the mechanisms involved,” says Nilsson.
Astronomers, and near-Earth physicists are referred to the works of Birkeland and Alfvén and strongly admonished not to ignore them any further, as they appear to offer real-world explanations for the processes that currently stump the modern astrophysical sciences.
See also:
Electric Currents Over Crustal Magnetic Anomalies Implicated in Martian Auroras
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mgmirkin
Beaverton, Oregon, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (22)
at 15:27 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Another excellent report, Michael. Thanks!
at 15:33 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Two decades ago that other paper was written!? I wish we had paid more attention to it then...
at 15:38 on August 28th, 2008
Yup, 1988! I was but a babe in the woods, so-to-speak... Apparently just as useful today as it was back then.
I think Alfven said something to the effect of "ignore electric currents in plasma at the peril of setting back the astrophysical sciences several decades..." It's been several decades, and they seem to just barely be catching up. Still not quite there yet. Too much talk of magnetic this-and-that, which obfuscates the electric currents that give rise to the magnetic fields we see everywhere. Study of the sun, in particular would probably benefit greatly from more electrical research, rather than bogus "magnetic reconnection" stuff.
Anyway, glad you enjoy the read!
Regards,
~Michael Gmirkin
at 15:43 on August 28th, 2008
Hello again, Michael,
I just received this book review today, and thought it might be of interest to you, and others.
From Donna Fisher, author of "SILENT FIELDS, The growing cancer cluster story. When Electricity Kills..."
From the website: http://www.silentfields.com/
While this fascinating book has many stories folding and unfolding
throughout its pages - some are profoundly moving, highly emotional,
others dry, legalistic and intriguing - it has but one powerful,
overriding and urgent message:
People are being killed and some becoming very sick as clusters of
cancer appear in Australia and many other parts of the world caused by
Electromagnetic Radiation - Silent Fields in small but lethal doses.
It is hard to believe that the common use of electricity, up to now,
part of the march of civilization and an integral part of our lives
can kill?. It need not be so insists Donna Fisher if proper
scientific measurements are made of just when electricity becomes
"dirty" and causes sickness and death. It is so that there is now
more than just a tenuous link that breast cancer as well as childhood
leukaemia can be caused by Electromagnetic Radiation in small doses.
Donna Fisher at once informs us about the growing cancer cluster story
and challenges us to confront certain authorities playing with the
lives of people. This cancer cluster cover-up may well become the
single biggest cover-up since the cigarette companies spent billions
to deny that smoking was linked to cancer?. denying even that it had
a tenuous link to the disease.
Read the exciting account of the author and her neighbours in the
Queensland suburb of Tanah Merah who without much technical, medical
and legal experience did battle with the large public company, Energex
to stop them from building an electricity sub-station in their street
which they felt would be unsafe. The breast cancer cluster at the
Australian Broadcasting Commission's Toowong TV Studios - which
has supposedly left the experts baffled yet again - has prompted the
author to explain why situations such as this are occurring worldwide.
Follow this courageous band of dedicated and committed people through
red-tape, bureaucracy, disinterested politicians and the Courts as
they challenge the biggest corporation in town in a quest to save
lives. The landmark court case and what Donna has brought to our
awareness about the dangers of Electromagnetic Radiation exposes an
attitude which may reveal one of the biggest scandals in Australia.
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/?p=950
at 15:55 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this story. It's good stuff.
I think if the O2 loss was anything really serious we certainly wouldn't hear the slightest thing about it ...
Very good read!
at 16:01 on August 28th, 2008
Not implying the Oxygen loss is serious. A drop in the bucket, really. Probably due to sputtering like that suggested by Wal Thornhill of the Electric Comet model (thus far not widely known or accepted) and by an independent researcher of the OH and H2O found in and around Mercury's atmosphere and magnetotail...
Good times!
~Michael Gmirkin
at 16:15 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this story. "oxygen gets lost", you have any ideas about the maximum sun magentic field 2012, what could it mean for the oxygen. The emitted oxygen could it come from the ozone layer destruction. Ozone 03 splits into oxygen if destroyed.
at 16:24 on August 28th, 2008
I think everyone's still waiting with bated breath on the sunspot cycle, et al. Nobody's quite sure how this one's going to play out. Some people had said it's going to be a massive cycle with huge solar flares / CMEs, potentially disrupting some technology at its peak. Others are saying the lull in sunspots is unusual and indicates a very weak new solar cycle coming up. I thnk everyone's kind of in wait-and-see mode. Again, the Oxygen ion loss is extremely minor, like a bucket's worth evaporating from the ocean. It's a pretty normal process and has been known about in one form or another for some time. They're just trying to figure out how it works...
at 16:25 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 18:53 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, another fascinating story! I'm surprised all that information was available in the 1900's I'm amazed by the wonders of Auroras and intrigued by the effect of magnetic fields on human beings. Oxygen ion leaking into space sounds quite serious.
at 19:10 on August 28th, 2008
Another well penned article Michael. Thank you for keeping us all so well informed.
at 19:21 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this story. It's good stuff.
What I want to know is, "Where is Einstein when we need him"?
at 19:58 on August 28th, 2008
Hi,
Yes, it's me - I'm not really dead, but I can't talk about it. Darn, it's a really good story too ... Really unbelievable ...
Anyway, I don't do much physics anymore. I mainly keep busy tinkering with broken TV's and washing machines and things like that that I find on the roadside. I've got an old Ford pickup and when I see something good I just throw it in the back and take it home. Drives the wife crazy ...
Sometimes I still pick up the old fiddle and play a little Mozart, some Brahms, maybe even a nice Schumann transcription - just beautiful !
Anyway, right now I'm working on an old GE toaster. Almost got it going again, too. They sure don't make 'em like that anymore.
So, I like what you guys are doing here at NP, by the way! And don't worry about all the oxygen leaking away any time soon - it'll be fine. Just remember, God's got a plan - whether we like it or not ...
It was nice chatting with you, I guess I should go now.
Take Care, Al
at 19:51 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Outstanding work! I am on lunch break, will come back to comment later. Very interesting in deed.
at 20:06 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 20:49 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this kinda stuff! A great written story. It's good stuff, thanks for sharing!
at 22:23 on August 28th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 00:07 on August 29th, 2008
Just I am curious. The Aurora electrons on your image do not represent emitted oxygen ?
at 12:27 on August 29th, 2008
From my understanding, two related processes are going on. Electrons are flowing one way into the atmosphere. Oxygen ions (possibly some other ions as well) are flowing up and out.
Seeing as how the recently discovered "magnetic flux ropes" are actually a 650,000 Amp electric current, this bidirectional flow of charged particles shouldn't be surprising...
(Which way does the "electricity" really flow?)
http://amasci.com/amateur/elecdir.html
Current can be composed of:
A) Negatively charged electrons flowing one way with positively charged protons and/or ions stationary or in chaotic motion.
B) Positively charged protons or ions flowing on way with negatively charged electrons stationary or in random motion.
C) Positively charged protons and/or ions flowing one way and negatively charged electrons flowing the opposite direction.
(NASA Spacecraft Make New Discoveries About Northern Lights)
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/auroras/northern_lights.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/auroras/northern_lights_multi.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/203795main_FluxPower_400.jpg
While it's not mentioned at all in the NASA article proper, the multimedia accompanying the THEMIS press release from late 2007 states pretty unequivocally that the "flux ropes" are actually an electric current of 650,000 Amps flowing into the Earth's upper atmosphere over the Arctic from the sun, along magnetic field lines (these fit the description of "Birkeland currents" or "field-aligned currents"). Earth is in an electric circuit with the sun! Pretty amazing when you think about it.
So, it seems to me that what we're seeing is a bi-directional flow. Oxygen (and possibly other) ions are flowing upward. Electrons are flowing downward. The net result fits the description of an electric current in item "C)" above. Just my informed opinion, of course...
Regards,
~Michael Gmirkin
at 04:59 on August 29th, 2008
mgmirkin, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 21:14 on March 30th, 2009
Its getting hard to breath and I have noticed peoples nostrils gitting bigger.
at 21:21 on March 30th, 2009
Ahh, the indelicate art of sarcasm! We knew thee well...
Regards,
~Michael Gmirkin