Lightning on Earth needs just a few simple ingredients to generate a spark. Those ingredients exist throughout the solar system and beyond.
electricity
Deciphering Electron Signatures in Earth’s Magnetic Tail
A new analysis of spacecraft data collected near the tip of Earth’s magnetotail sheds light on how geomagnetic activity affects the motion of electrons in this region.
How to Launch a Satellite During a Blackout
PG&E shut down the power to Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory right before a satellite launch.
Charging Thunderclouds Affect Ionospheric Conductivity
As thunderstorm updrafts strengthen, electrification of clouds can heat the lower ionosphere, explaining prolonged disturbances to radio waves in the rarefied atmospheric layer.
Holistic Views of the Nighttime Ionosphere
The nightside ionosphere, at latitudes away from the auroral zone, should have very little charged particle density, but it doesn’t. A new comprehensive study of satellite data explains why.
New Plasma Wave Observations from Earth’s Magnetosphere
The first simultaneous observations of multiple electromagnetic wave types in Earth’s magnetosphere may inaugurate a new field of inquiry into cross-frequency wave interactions.
Taking Magnetotelluric Data out of the Drawer
Magnetic and electric field measurements at Earth’s surface provide information on Earth’s interior and on space weather. An open-source central repository of these data has received a major update.
Bruning Receives 2018 Atmospheric and Space Electricity Early Career Award
Eric C. Bruning will receive the 2018 Atmospheric and Space Electricity Early Career Award at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2018, to be held 10–14 December in Washington, D. C. The award recognizes “outstanding early career contributions to atmospheric and space electricity.”
A Close-in Look at Saturn’s Periodic Space Bubble
When it comes to Saturn’s space environment, summer wins over winter in controlling the periodic flows of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields.
Ocean Showers Power the Global Electric Circuit
Satellite measurements confirm hundred-year-old observations collected by boat.