this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
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NASA discovers Earth's electrical field at last after 60-year search (www.space.com)
submitted 2 months ago by yamaonan@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world
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A long-sought invisible force wrapped around Earth has been detected more than half a century after it was first hypothesized.

The field, dubbed the "polar wind," explains how Earth's atmosphere escapes easily and rapidly above the north and south poles, and may have played a role in shaping our planet's thin upper atmosphere.

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[–] Redacted@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

I think it means the electric field created within Earth's atmosphere that is responsible for lightning as opposed to the (electro)magnetic field which forms the magnetosphere around Earth and makes compasses work.