The Sun can wreak a lot of havoc on Earth during its more active periods. Coronal mass ejections can send solar storms of charged particles that can lead to radio blackouts and geomagnetic storms but the Earth has its own insurance policy, a plasma “shield” located within the planet’s magnetic field.
An X-class solar flare created enough space radiation to delay of Orbital Sciences’ International Space Station resupply mission in January and these solar storms could affect satellites as well as astronauts orbiting Earth. Luckily the Earth’s magnetic field, known as the magnetosphere, protects the planet from solar storms and researchers have identified a process involving plasma and acts as another protective barrier.
In a press release, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA say a jet of plasma, super-heated ionized gas, that slows down magnetic reconnection, the process where the magnetic field is rearranged. The team, led by John Foster, associate director of MIT’s Haystack Observatory, used the observatory to analyze Earth’s plasma plumes by monitoring distortions in radio signals.
In order to create maps of plasma plumes and other atmospheric phenomena, researchers use more than 1,000 Earth-based receivers that collect incoming radio signals from GPS satellites. Geomagnetic storms and space radiation can distort these signals and finding evidence of a plasma plume during a solar storm in January, Foster teamed up with members of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to observe what was happening from space.
NASA's space observations confirmed the evidence of a plasma plume as well as its effect to reduce the force of solar storms. The Earth’s magnetic field extends outward and interacts with the Sun’s own magnetic field. This interaction leads to magnetic reconnection and through this process charged particles can get through Earth’s magnetic field. Luckily the plasma plume is traveling Earth’s magnetic field lines to the point of interaction and slows down magnetic reconnection which reduces the force of potential storms.
"It slows down reconnection, and it can contribute to the generation of waves that, in turn, accelerate particles in other parts of the magnetosphere. So it’s a recirculation process, and really fascinating," said Foster about the plasma plume in a statement. The research was published in the journal Science.
Plasma 'Shield' In Earth's Magnetic Field Protects The Planet From Solar Storms
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