Humans are throwing Earth s energy budget off balance it-online.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from it-online.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
10 Stunning New Ways To Visualize How The Earth Works
Earth’s green-blue visage is awful nice, but we see it so often that we’re sick of it. Luckily, NASA and other space agencies are constantly dreaming up new ways to visualize the countless terrestrial processes we take for granted.
10Earth’s Plasmasphere
The plasmasphere is the inner portion of Earth’s magnetic field, and it’s fabulous. Recently, astronomers have found a constant flux of particles between the two electrically charged regions, forming a terrestrial version of the solar wind.
As solar UV radiation strikes the atmosphere, it kicks off a gigantic ionic rave. Tiny electrons are whipped up and ionize other particles, creating a magnetic stew high above Earth’s surface. The flow is somewhat modest in cosmic terms. It releases only about 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of charged material into the outer magnetosphere per second. Daily, this adds up to 90 tons of plasma discharge, and this flowing electric material for