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.

  • Redacted@lemmy.world
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    3 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.