A new study provides the first conclusive proof of the
existence of a space wind first proposed theoretically over 20 years ago. By
analysing data from the European Space Agency’s Cluster spacecraft, researcher
Iannis Dandouras detected this plasmaspheric wind, so-called because it
contributes to the loss of material from the plasmasphere, a donut-shaped
region extending above the Earth’s atmosphere. The results are published today
in Annales Geophysicae, a journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).
“After long scrutiny of the data, there it was, a slow but
steady wind, releasing about 1 kg of plasma every second into the outer
magnetosphere: this corresponds to almost 90 tonnes every day. It was
definitely one of the nicest surprises I’ve ever had!” said Dandouras of the
Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse, France.