The Sun's plasma blasts Earth’s magnetosphere at more than a million miles per hour. The fastest pours from holes in the corona, but until recently the source of the "slow" solar wind was a mystery.
magnetic fields & magnetism
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Evidence of an Extinct Ocean Basin Detected Beneath Greenland
An analysis of a seismic and gravity anomaly discovered in the middle mantle sheds new light on ancient oceans, the mantle's evolution, and ancient magmatism in the Arctic.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Polarity Reversals in the Earth’s Magnetic Field
Studies of geomagnetic polarity reversals have generated some of the biggest and most interesting debates in the paleomagnetic and wider solid Earth geophysics communities over the last 25 years.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Electrons Thrown Off Course in Near-Earth Magnetic Reconnection
NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission detects energy differences in electrons scattered by magnetic reconnection.
Posted inScience Updates
Exploring New Knowledge on Magnetospheric Interactions
AGU Chapman Conference on Magnetospheric Dynamics; Fairbanks, Alaska, 27 September to 2 October 2015
Posted inScience Updates
Radiation Belt Processes in a Declining Solar Cycle
The Van Allen Probes began an extended mission in November to advance understanding of Earth's radiation belts.
Posted inScience Updates
Great Mysteries of the Earth's Magnetotail
Workshop on Magnetotail Reconnection Onset and Dipolarization Fronts; Laurel, Maryland, 16–18 September 2015
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Satellite Shows Earth's Magnetic Field Bent During a Solar Storm
When solar storms strike, they weaken Earth's defenses against harmful radiation. New satellite measurements reveal just how much.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Which Geodynamo Models Will Work Best on Next-Gen Computers?
A new study uses identical tests to evaluate the accuracy and performance of current models of Earth's magnetic field, then extrapolates the results to anticipated "petascale" supercomputers.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Causes the Strange Pulses in Saturn's Magnetosphere?
A new model shows that a spiral wave may explain why many phenomena in the gas giant's magnetosphere undergo periodic cycles.