What is the Magnetosphere?

Interview on space weather—storms on the sun, solar flares, other events that cause currents that come in at a lower altitude and impact Earth weather and even mechanical objects (transformers).

What is the magnetosphere? Michael Hesse - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center explains that the magnetosphere is the Earth’s magnetic pull related to the particles coming from the Sun that compress the magnetosphere with accelerated particles changing and the solar wind. Michael Hesse studies these though mathematics and computer simulations.

David Murr of Dartmouth College explains why study the magnetosphere at the Poles: the closer to the pole, the closer you are to the outer boundaries of the Earth. In doing this, he also sees the connection between the people and the land.

The discussion Why study the magnetosphere at the poles? is continued by Shin-ichiro Oyama – STEL, Nagoya who notes that there are more dramatic changes at the poles, e.g., the aurora. He is intrigued by the many things still to be explored and the beauty of the Northern climate.

How do changes in Earth's lower atmosphere affect us? Umran Inan – Stanford University. Studying applications of radiation belts and the waves and particles in the lower atmosphere; these are electrodynamic processes. They measure via ground and satellite measurements.

How do changes in Earth's lower atmosphere affect us? (continued) Jeff Thayer – University of Colorado continues the discussion of How do changes in Earth's lower atmosphere affect us? We are so dependent on our space assets, our satellites, cell phones and GPS. The atmosphere breathes and the satellite senses these changes and is impacted by it. We are very Earth centric, so we are just beginning to explore all there is of space.