Mercury's "Magnetic Tornadoes" and the Big Picture...

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Mercury's Magnetosphere (Diagram)

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Well, it seems that Mercury and Earth aren't so dissimilar after all, at least in terms of their magnetospheric interactions with space. But, I wonder, when does anecdotal evidence cease being anecdotal and become a trend? We may be very close to a tipping point...

In the latest bit of astrophysical news from Mercury, it seems they've discovered Mercury's magnetosphere connects to space by way of what they've called "magnetic tornadoes."

This is of course all very interesting to magnetospheric specialists... But who's minding the bigger picture? In particular it's notable that extremely similar features have been discovered with respect to Earth's magnetosphere.

If one delves into the news archives a bit, it's rather easy to find references to similar structures and behaviors in our own local neighborhood.

Compare the above statement directly to the statements just release regarding Mercury:

Both press releases use the same language of "twisted" and "bundled" magnetic fields. It's interesting to note that the "magnetic flux ropes" are said to connect all the way back to the sun. But what does it all mean?

Perhaps a more recent press release can shed additional light on the situation...

Compare this to the recent statements about Mercury:

Both are referred to as "flux transfer events." In the current astrophysical-speak, "a magnetic portal will open" and "tons of high-energy particles may flow through the opening before it closes again." An interesting piece of the puzzle. How do the inflowing particles and the magnetic fields interplay?

One might point out that, just recently, scientists discovered "electrical tornadoes in space" power the auroras...

It's interesting then to note that the original article on "magnetic flux ropes" connecting the Earth all the way back to the sun also has associated multimedia likening the exchange to a giant "30 kiloVolt battery in space" and detailing that a current of 650,000 Amps was carried by the so-called "magnetic flux ropes" into the Arctic. Are all sources pointing to the same process: field-aligned electric currents (net differential flows of like charged particles) flowing through space and impinging upon planetary magnetospheres?

Lest we forget, the visible auroras are only the tip of the ice berg. They occur when something particularly energetic happens. Auroras occur 24/7 in the ultraviolet (invisible to the human eye, but not to satellite) portion of the spectrum! This seems to imply a constant influx of electric current...

At this juncture, it might be useful to revisit some physics and some history.

In particular, one might start with the history of field-aligned currents and interplanetary space. Long story short, a Norwegian scientist named Kristian Birkeland, who studied the auroras around the start of the 1900's, after much empirical observation and laboratory experimentation, proposed that filaments of electric current flow through the sparse ionized gases (plasma, in modern parlance) between the sun and Earth, energizing the auroras.

There was much debate over whether Birkeland's magnetic field observations indicated currents of local or external origin. In the 1970's, satellites verified Birkeland's claims that the auroral circuit received current from space, following the contours of magnetic fields into the poles. But, it seems not many people paid attention and the information fell out of common knowledge. Nonetheless, such field-aligned currents were named Birkeland currents in his honor. Today, it seems all things old are new again!

One might also point out that such field aligned currents will themselves generate their own magnetic field, according to electromagnetic field theory and Maxwell's equations. A straight current will generate a cylindrical magnetic field around it. One wonders whether a "bundled" or "twisted" magnetic field configuration indicates an entwined set of filamentary currents (a common form of current in plasma).

Another point to ponder is the curious statement that the magnetic field is "carried along" with the solar wind.

Physically, this appears to be an incorrect statement. Plasma is neither a permanent magnet nor a superconductor.

The "frozen in" condition, where magnetic fields are said to be "carried along" with plasma, is predicated on astrophysicists treatment of plasma as an ideal conductor (that is to say a superconductor or one with precisely zero resistance). Lab experiments falsify this premise.

It is quite simple to demonstrate (at the very minimum for low-density plasma such as that in the sun's corona, the solar wind, interplanetary, interstellar & intergalactic space and planetary magnetospheres) that plasma is not a superconductor in any of its discharge modes by observing a graph of its voltage and current in those modes and applying the equation for resistance. Simply put, resistance R (measured in ohms) is the ratio of voltage V (measured in volts) to current I (measured in ampères). The equation is R = (V / I).

No portion of the plot touches the I-axis. Thus V never reaches zero. Thus the expression (V / I) never reaches zero and resistance R is never zero. Since plasma's resistance is non-zero, it is not a superconductor. Therefore, currents do not persist indefinitely within it, and neither do magnetic fields. Such magnetic fields are not "frozen in," but exist in dynamic relationship to electric currents. A magnetic field within a plasma only exists so long as a current continues to flow and the strength of that field is dependent upon the strength of the associated current. Since plasma is not a superconductor, charges also do not immediately "neutralize" and there can be regions of differing charge within a plasma, meaning there can be electric fields between discrete regions within a plasma.

In light of this understanding it seems reasonable to consider the possibility that Birkeland was correct about our planet (and probably by extension other planets as well) existing in a direct, dynamic electrical interaction with the sun along filaments of electrified plasma. The observed cylindrical "magnetic portals" and "twisted bundles of magnetic fields" may be merely a byproduct of such electric currents through low-density space plasma.

Acceptance of this idea may allow for a unifying explanation of several heretofore unsolved anomalous processes known throughout the solar system. Such process include but are not limited to Venus' double-eyed polar storms, the anomalously warm poles of Saturn and auroras over crustal magnetic anomalies at Mars' south pole.

It should be interesting to see what further "electrifying" developments in situ observations of our neighboring planets have in store for us.

See Also:
Planet Mercury Is More Exciting Than Mars Says Space Science