New Finding Shows Super-Huge Space Tornados Power the Auroras

by Nancy Atkinson on April 23, 2009

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter

Space tornadoes span a volume approximately the size of Earth or larger.  Credit:  Keiling, Glassmeier and Amm

Space tornadoes span a volume approximately the size of Earth or larger. Credit: Keiling, Glassmeier and Amm


If you think tornadoes on Earth are scary, newly found “space tornadoes” sound downright horrifying. But they are likely the power source behind the beautiful Northern and Southern Lights. A new finding by a cluster of five space probes – the THEMIS, or Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms show that electrical funnels which span a volume as large as Earth produce electrical currents exceeding 100,000 amperes. THEMIS recorded the extent and power of these electrical funnels as the probes passed through them during their orbit of Earth. Ground measurements showed that the space tornadoes channel the electrical current into the ionosphere to spark bright and colorful auroras on Earth.

Space tornadoes are rotating plasmas of hot, ionized gas flowing at speeds of more than a million miles per hour, far faster than the 200 m.p.h. winds of terrestrial tornadoes, according to Andreas Keiling, a research space physicist at the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory.

Keiling works on THEMIS, which was built and is now operated by UC Berkeley. The five space probes were launched by NASA in February 2007 to solve a decades-long mystery about the origin of magnetic storms that power the Northern and Southern Lights.

Electric currents in the funnels power auroras.  Credit: Keiling, Glassmeier, and Amm

Electric currents in the funnels power auroras. Credit: Keiling, Glassmeier, and Amm


Both terrestrial and space tornadoes consist of funnel-shaped structures. Space tornadoes, however, generate huge amounts of electrical currents inside the funnel. These currents flow along twisted magnetic field lines from space into the ionosphere where they power several processes, most notably bright auroras such as the Northern Lights, Keiling said.

While these intense currents do not cause any direct harm to humans, on the ground they can damage man-made structures, such as power transformers.

The THEMIS spacecraft observed these tornadoes, or “flow vortices,” at a distance of about 40,000 miles from Earth. Simultaneous measurements by THEMIS ground observatories confirmed the tornadoes’ connection to the ionosphere.

Keiling’s colleagues include Karl-Heinz Glassmeier of the Institute for Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics (IGEP, TU) in Braunschweig, Germany, and Olaf Amm of the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

The findings were presented today at the general assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna, Austria.

Source: EGU

About

Nancy Atkinson is Universe Today's Senior Editor. She also is the host of the NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast and works with the Astronomy Cast and 365 Days of Astronomy podcasts. Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador.

  • http://astroengine.com/ Ian O’Neill

    @Ian T.: Actually, there’s been several comments pointing out electric currents are being ignored (that’s why I responded). That is the mainstay of EU theory: not enough attention is being paid to… erm… the ‘electric universe’.

    I’m not sure what your point is, but if there was anything ‘standard’ about EU theory, it would have some merit. And I beg to differ about these mystical currents. If the ‘Electric Sun’ hypothesis is anything to go by, there’s one hell of a lot of mysticism riding on those currents.

  • Astrofiend

    Cipater – you wouldn’t happen to be an Autechre fan would you?

    Just curious.

  • Astrofiend

    “Also, I note no response to the “dark” matter, “dark” energy, ect. ect. assertion for why Plasma Cosmology does provide a better explanation than “modern” astronomy.”

    You’re making the claim that plasma cosmology provides a better explanation than the currently accepted ideas – the burden of proof is on you my friend. All of the mainstream stuff is continually published in journals, so you can look it up any time there. Your theories are not so easy to find, and seeing as you are promoting it as an alternative to the published materials, I would think that you would be more than happy to reference the finest , most cogent and the most rigorous refutations of mainstream theory and defenses of your own.

    I would be happy to read through the link you mentioned at my leisure – bit busy to go through it in detail at the moment though. Maybe when I get home from work I’ll go through some. At first glance though, it all seems a bit vague – take this example:

    “If our theory of gigantic electric arcs large enough to carve Valles Marineris is correct, a great deal of sulfur may have also been created in that cataclysm and spread around the planet.”

    For one – HOLY SH_T! The theory is that electical arcs created Valles Marineris? That cannot be a serious consideration, surely! Two – the prediction is that ‘a great deal of Sulfur MAY have been made’. Wow – concrete – don’t put yourself out on a limb or anything Thornhill.

    Another example:

    “Telesto, Calypso and Pandora may not have had their craters and rilles softened by a layer of dust. Their craters and rilles may have been literally softened by melting.”

    May this and possibly that. It doesn’t give me a great deal of confidence for the rest of the website I’m afraid…

    And I agree – ‘dark matter’ and particularly ‘dark energy’ are such loosely defined concepts that it is little more than a fudge factor. In fact, they are basically names for discrepancies. Whether these discrepancies can be explained by the proposed solutions is something else altogther. Maybe they can, maybe they cannot and we’ll come up with something else. The point is, I’m not denying that astronomy has huge gaps of understanding, or promoting the idea that we understand everything and that all is well. I simply happen to believe that we are on the right path, which you claim we are not. Fair enough, but when we strip away all the BS, I’ve seen no convincing arguments from plasma cosmology, and even less rigour. I look at websites that claim to expound these theories, and all they contain is verbal diarrhea and hand-waving vagueness. Prove me wrong though. If plasma cosmology is a true description of nature, then it will literally explain everything we can observe or see. So get to it and show the scientists a thing or two if you’re able.

    “So-called “dark’ matter: Pixie dust for “modern” astronomers stuck in Never, Never Land.”

    That was a good one – you worked on that one for a while, didn’t you?

  • Dave Finton

    Dave Smith: “Please Dave, with all due respect, show me ONE place in the published EU literature where this is stated. NOT some ’supporter’ who has things ballsed up, but within the published works of the EU crowd. Just ONE is all I ask.

    The problem here is, that EU is grossly MISrepresented by many, both supporters and opponents thereof.

    Cheers, Dave Smith.”

    Pretty much all of them. Believe me, I’ve read many. My favorite is the one that claimed that electric arcs created the craters on the moon. You probably know which one I am talking about.

  • IVAN3MAN

    As soon as I saw the title of this post, I figured that the EU/PC nuts would be wetting their knickers in delight. They remind me of those punters, that you often see at the race track, who scream, shout, rant and rave when their 11/10 fav. (BIG DEAL!) horse romps home, but they completely ignore the fact that favourites have an average strike rate of ~30% and at such a lousy return price that the poor punter makes a net loss in the long term — bookies love people like that!

    Ian O’Neill:

    So many times I see hopelessly misinterpreted physics theory being used as “proof” that there is some kind of mystical all-powerful electric current that floods the Universe (explaining everything from craters on the Moon to the highly bizarre ‘Electric Sun’ theory). Unfortunately many of these ideas are so cringe-worthy, it is an affront to plasma physics.

    Exactly! I have asked this question before of the EU/PC proponents, to which I did not get a plausible answer, so I will ask of them again: What is the source of that “mystical all-powerful electric current that floods the Universe” and allegedly powers the “Electric Sun”?

  • Jon Hanford

    @ Ian O’Neil, I most heartily must agree with your comments above to Eric concerning EU/PC proponents. You state “There’s a good reason why EU was removed from Wikipedia, and why, even after years of noise-making, that only a very small number of people give it the time of day.” Back at the discussion of “Do we need a new theory of gravity” on this site:http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/21/do-we-need-a-new-theory-of-gravitation/ MOND theory was brought up. MOND challenges some of our most basic assumptions in physics and is certainly a challenge to the standard model. Most EU/PC proponents will say that 1) there is some conspiracy by mainstream science to deny and suppress information about EU/PC or 2) there is peer-review bias in professional journals. IF either one of these statements are true, why is it that I can find hundreds of peer-reviewed published papers on MOND (which has been around since 1981, remember), but only a handful of EU/PC papers in a field that supposedly goes back to 1907. Why is it I can find so many published papers on MOND if statements 1 and/or 2 are correct. Or is the argument now that the standard model AND MOND get a pass but EU/PC are still subject to 1 and/or 2? I think MOND deserved some scrutiny from the astrophysics community because of certain testable predictions were being made and a sizeable body of literature began to accumulate. Even though MOND theory may be showing signs of age, it obviously stimulated the astrophysics community to confirm or refute its’ predictions. But just the existence of the MOND literature (or one or two EU papers) negates both statements 1 and 2. Unfortunately some of the commenters totally fail to see the irony in this matter, or just choose to ignore it completely.

  • Feenixx

    Ian Tresman Says:
    “…the source of astrophysical electric currents is simply the movement of plasma in a magnetic field…”

    This is the point where I could never follow the EU ideas – it comes across to me as a chicken and egg scenario: In my World, the current has to be there in order to create the plasma. Seen through my eyes, this notion amounts to a perpetual motion machine of the “first type”.

  • TD

    Space tornadoes – OK; Is it possible that atmospheric tornadoes are formed or influenced to some extent by charged particles, electric and magnetic fields? A few of us worked on a paper and got it published in the Journal of Electrostatics. I don’t really understand the basis of all the ridicule, noise, and emotion – these are just theores that need to be proved or disproved.

    “Electric field and Lorentz force contribution to atmospheric vortex phenomena”

    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V02-4NRCW4V-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=39414e214aa3769399b2bd56bc9b915d

    The gaps in scientific knowledge are becoming clearer – what is the physics of a tornado? How high do the highest microbes get? Did life originate on Earth or was it depositied here by a version of transpermia? Is there life on Mars? Very interesting questions that need answers.

  • Olaf

    Wowowow, no where is there any reference to EU!

    Standard model did already know that solar wind gets guided to the poles where because of Earths magnetic fields where they cause aurora’s, what is new that these magnetic fields tend to behave like tornado’s.

    Also these magnetic fields are powerd by an outside source than plasma itself. Rember! EU does not allow gravity and EU does not allow nuclear fusion, and also no magnetic reconnection.

    Remember! EU clames that plasma tests in laboratory proves EU, but when I pull out the plug from my plasma ball, all plasma revert to it’s normal state.

    There is absolutely NO relationship between EU and this, except that they both happen to have the same name like plasma, electrical current and magnetic field, but there it stops.

    I am sorry, you cannot clame to believe in EU and say in the same sentence “but I also believe in gravity”. If you believe in gravity then you you cannot say that you are promoting EU anymore since you deny the very core that EU is! That gravity is caused by the flatning of the subtronic orbits of the strucutures inside the electron which has not been proven so far!

    Claming that you believe that EU is the only truth out there but gravity does exist, is like saying that you do believe in God but Jezus is fictional.

    Plasma, magnetic fields, electrical current, are part of the standard model! Together with all other forces…

    EU clames only to have the electromagnetic and the rest is the result of this electromagnetic which is clearly disproven by many large collider experiments.

    Yes one unified force could explain electro-magnetiscm but electromagnetism DOES NOT explain the unifying force!!!! BIG difference!!! It is only 25% of the 4 fources!

  • ZIBIT

    EU the Scientology of Cosmology.

  • http://www.plasmaresources.com Dave Smith

    I wrote:

    Dave Finton wrote:

    “Where EU disassociates itself with reality is that they insist EM is the *only* dominating force.”

    Please Dave, with all due respect, show me ONE place in the published EU literature where this is stated. NOT some ’supporter’ who has things ballsed up, but within the published works of the EU crowd. Just ONE is all I ask.

    Dave Finton responded:

    Pretty much all of them. Believe me, I’ve read many. My favorite is the one that claimed that electric arcs created the craters on the moon. You probably know which one I am talking about.

    This response doesn’t answer the question, nor even touch on it! Please tell me, where in the published EU literature, it is stated that “EM is the *only* dominating force.” Craters on the moon have little if anything to do with your initial statement.

    I also wrote:

    The problem here is, that EU is grossly MISrepresented by many, both supporters and opponents thereof.

    Olaf let fly with a typically strawman MISrepresentation of EU, making claims which are quite wrong about the theory, and then ridiculing his own claims. I rest my case.

    Cheers, Dave.

  • IVAN3MAN

    Ian Tresman:

    … astrophysical plasmas are the standard/default state of matter, and are already at sufficient energy levels that they do not require “maintaining”.

    You mean like the ‘resting’ parrot nailed to its perch?

  • cipater

    Astrofiend: Yep! I’m a rabid Autechre fan. Cipater is one of my favorites by them.

  • Jon Hanford

    @ Dave Smith, above you have stated “… show me ONE place in the published EU literature where this is stated. NOT some ’supporter’ who has things ballsed up, but within the published works of the EU crowd. Just ONE is all I ask.

    The problem here is, that EU is grossly MISrepresented by many, both supporters and opponents thereof.” I think the problem here is really “what flavor of EU are you referring to?” On this page alone are postings from 3 or 4 different EU sites, many contradicting the other. This (along with a general dearth of peer-reviewed, published papers on EU) make it difficult to provide you with an acceptable reply. This difference of “opinion” seems oddly similar to debate among physicists as to what nonbaryonic particles or interactions constitute or contribute to Dark Matter, except that thousands of papers are available on possible DM constituents. @IVAN3MAN, yes a perished polly! Gotta love the Python reference.

  • http://www.plasmaresources.com/ davesmith_au

    With respect Jon Hanford, it is precisely this type of misinformation I am referring to. NO ONE has shown me ONE place within the published EU literature, which states “[EU proponents] insist EM is the *only* dominating force.

    This (along with a general dearth of peer-reviewed, published papers on EU) make it difficult to provide you with an acceptable reply.

    I am sure you know which are the ‘officially sanctioned’ EU sites. Dave Finton should be offering the reply, as he is the person who made the erroneous claim. Instead, he offered avoidance of the issue electing instead to make a sweeping generalization which is incorrect anyhow.

    Scientific discourse, which I’m led to believe should occur on this site, involves refuting specific claims with specific references. The claim above in bold was made by someone who frequents this site, and yet STILL no-one can direct me to a source where this claim is varified. Thus, assuming no such source can be found (and I know it cannot), the original claim should be refactored, or my claim that it is incorrect should be acknowledged. It’s not rocket science…

    Cheers, Dave.

Previous post:

Next post: