Plasma Outflow from Plasmasphere to Magnetosphere (VIDEO)

European Geosciences Union

Caption

This animation shows the Earth's plasmasphere -- the innermost part of our planet's magnetosphere -- and the plasmaspheric wind, an outward flow of charged particles. The doughnut-shaped plasmasphere is centred around the Earth's equator and rotates along with it. The steady plasmaspheric wind continuously transfers material from the plasmasphere into the magnetosphere, releasing about 1 kg of plasma every second -- almost 90 tonnes a day -- into the outer magnetosphere.

Credit

ESA/ATG medialab

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