Damaging Electric Currents in Space Affect Earth’s Equatorial Region, Not Just the Poles

The Earth’s magnetic field – known as the “magnetosphere” – protects our atmosphere from the “solar wind.”

When the sun flares, space weather is on its way to Earth. NASA/SDO, CC BY 4.0

The Earth’s magnetic field – known as the “magnetosphere” – protects our atmosphere from the “solar wind.” That’s the constant stream of charged particles flowing outward from the sun. When the magnetosphere shields Earth from these solar particles, they get funneled toward the polar regions of our atmosphere.

As the particles crash into the atmosphere’s ionospheric layer, light is given off, creating beautiful multicolored displays of aurora near both the North and South Poles. These are stunning visual representations of the complex interactions in the near-Earth space environment, which we collectively term “space weather.”

Aurora over Norway, visual of space weather. Alexa Halford, CC BY-ND 4.0