An Invisible Energy Field Surrounding Earth Finally Discovered.
This energy field is known as the dipole field, an electric field hypothesized by scientists 60 years ago. The discovery of this electric field will change the way we study and understand the behavior and evolution of the ever-changing world around us.
Earth photographed from the International Space Station in 2003. (Photo: NASA).
Astronomer Glyn Collinson from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center stated that any planet with an atmosphere has a dipole field. Now that we have finally measured it, we can start to understand how it shapes our planet as well as other planets.
Earth is not just a ball of dirt floating in space. It is enveloped by all kinds of fields. For example, the gravitational field. We do not know much about gravitational fields, but without it, we would not have this planet.
In addition, there is the magnetic field. The magnetic field is generated by the spinning and swirling of matter in the Earth’s core, transforming kinetic energy into magnetic energy. The magnetic field protects us from the effects of solar wind and solar radiation, while also keeping the atmosphere intact around Earth without dissipating into space.
The North Pole as seen from the Endurance spacecraft. The streaks in the sky are due to lens flare. (Photo: NASA).
In 1968, scientists described a phenomenon we could not imagine until we ventured into space. Spacecraft flying through the polar regions of Earth detected a supersonic wind of particles emanating from the Earth’s atmosphere. The most convincing explanation for this phenomenon is a third field of Earth, the electric energy field.
“But at that time we could not measure this energy field because we lacked advanced technology. Therefore, we built the Endurance spacecraft to search for that invisible force,” astronomer Collinson stated.
Now, scientists explain that the dipole field operates as follows. From an altitude of about 250 km in the ionosphere of the atmosphere, ultraviolet rays and intense solar radiation ionize atmospheric atoms, breaking apart negatively charged electrons and transforming these atoms into positively charged ions.
The lighter electrons will try to fly into space, while the heavier ions will attempt to settle back to the ground. However, the plasma environment strives to maintain charge neutrality, leading to the emergence of an electric field between the electrons and ions to bond them together.
This is called a dipole field because it acts in both directions, with ions pulling down and electrons pulling up.
As a result, the atmosphere swells, and the height of the atmosphere allows some ions to escape into space, which is what we observe in polar winds.
This dipole field is very weak, so researchers designed instruments to measure it. The Endurance spacecraft carried these instruments into space in May 2022, reaching an altitude of 768.03 km to conduct measurements before returning to Earth with extremely valuable data.
The spacecraft measured an electric potential that only changed by 0.55 volts, but that is all that scientists needed. Astronomer Collinson stated: “Half a volt is almost nothing, but it is strong enough to explain the existence of polar winds.”
This amount of electric charge is sufficient to pull hydrogen ions with a gravitational intensity of 10.6 times and propel these ions into space at supersonic speeds over both poles of Earth. Oxygen ions are heavier than hydrogen ions but are still lifted higher, increasing the density of the ionosphere by 271% compared to if there were no dipole field.
Even more interestingly, this is just the beginning. We still do not know the broader implications of this dipole field, how long it has existed, how it operates, and how it affects the evolution of our planet, including its impact on life on the surface of Earth.
This electric field is a fundamental part of Earth’s operation. Now that we have measured it, we can truly begin to ask bigger and more intriguing questions.
