When I researched the geomagnetism, I found that there is an area called the Earth’s magnetosphere at an altitude of 60,000 km, beyond the stratosphere at an altitude of 50 km and the thermosphere at an altitude of 800 km. I had heard that the magnetic field surrounding the Earth protects it from the torrent of plasma called the solar wind, but it is quite advanced. By definition, anything above 100 km is called outer space, but I wonder how far it is considered to be the Earth. The space surrounding the Earth up to an altitude of 60,000 km is called geospace, a combination of “geo” which means Earth and “space” which means outer space.
In geospace, protons and various ions captured by the Earth’s magnetic field are distributed in a doughnut-like shape called a torus, and are classified into three regions.There is a high-energy zone called the radiation belt (Van Allen belt) where protons and electrons reach up to 1 megaelectron volt, a region called the ring current where a huge electric current created by charged particles of 10 to 100 kiloelectron volts flows, and a region of ionized gas with energies of several electron volts called the plasmasphere.The plasma in the plasmasphere is cold and dense, while the plasma in the ring current is hot. Even though it’s cold, it’s still around 700 to 9000 degrees. The Earth is surrounded not only by magnetic fields, but also by plasma and huge electric currents.
It is said that most particles that enter the Earth do not reach the surface due to the Earth’s magnetic field, but particles are currently entering the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly, which is the place on Earth where the magnetic field is weakest. Some particles enter the Earth, while others leave, and they may be replaced like the metabolism of living organisms.
There is a theory that the magnetosphere behaves like a living organism. The magnetosphere opens its mouth to eat the solar wind, takes in energy through the magnetopause, accumulates energy in the magnetotail, consumes energy in the radiation belt, and releases energy into interplanetary space. This whole process is just like a living organism. It certainly looks like eating and breathing.
The magnetosphere repels the solar wind, which has too much energy, but there is a theory that when a reconnection of magnetic field lines occurs, a phenomenon known as magnetic reconnection, multiple plasma tornadoes are generated and absorb the energy. There are still many things we do not know, such as how the magnetosphere eats.
And in this magnetosphere, radio waves called magnetosonic waves at about 11Hz and electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves (EMIC waves) at about 2Hz appear. Do these frequencies also have some effect on the Earth? In the sense of being within the Earth’s magnetic field, there is a space called geospace, which can be said to be the Earth’s sphere of influence, about 10 times the diameter of the Earth, where life can exist on Earth. Geospace is amazing. The Earth’s magnetic field is amazing.
