A survey of bedrock conductivity across Spain improves predictions of how vulnerable the nation’s power grid is to solar storms.
magnetic fields & magnetism
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Explanation for “Meandering” Electrons Orbiting Earth
A new study proposes a simpler theory to explain a class of electrons zipping around Earth, propelled by magnetic explosions.
Posted inScience Updates
Integrating Research of the Sun-Earth System
International Symposium on Recent Observations and Simulations of the Sun-Earth System III; 11–16 September 2016, Varna, Bulgaria
Posted inScience Updates
A Bike Built for Magnetic Mapping
Mounting a magnetic sensor on a bicycle offers an efficient, low-cost method of collecting ground magnetic field data over rough terrain where conventional vehicles dare not venture.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
For Magnetic Reconnection Energy, O—not X—Might Mark the Spot
A new analysis of satellite data could upend conventional wisdom about how solar storms produce their dangerous radiation—not from X-shaped mergers of magnetic field lines but from swirling vortices.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Explaining Unexpected Twists in the Sun's Magnetic Field
New research shows how the Sun's magnetic field can shift when it approaches Earth, which can throw off space weather forecasts.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Filling Earth’s Space Environment from the Sun or the Earth?
The editor of a new book describes how a unique combination of the monograph and video show that a four-decade old paradigm in solar-terrestrial physics is changing.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Lightning Creates "Killer Electrons" in Earth's Radiation Belts
New calculations show that lightning-triggered plasma waves in Earth's magnetosphere absorb energy from slow particles and energize electrons to levels that can damage satellites severely.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Polar Interlopers in the Aurora
A new study suggests that poleward boundary intensifications in the aurora are caused by fast flows of plasma from the poles into the auroral oval.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Plasma Waves Pinpointed at the Site of Magnetic Reconnection
When the Earth's and the Sun's magnetic fields meet, they realign in explosive and mysterious reconnections. Data suggest that plasma waves called kinetic Alfvén waves play a key role.