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The Earth’s Magnetic Field and the Geomagnetic Effects

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Celestial Messengers

Part of the book series: Astronomers' Universe ((ASTRONOM))

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Abstract

The researches described until now regarded the nature of cosmic rays on the Earth, but had given no direct information on the nature of the “primary” cosmic rays that are falling on the Earth from outside. This information came from the study of new effects, due to the presence of the Earth’s magnetic field.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The dipole moment is 8. 1 ×1022 A m2 and it produces a field that on the Earth’s surface is about 0.5 Gauss.

  2. 2.

    They are called aurora borealis or northern lights, in the North, and aurora australis or southern lights in the South.

  3. 3.

    This line is due to a forbidden line of the oxygen atom. The production of forbidden lines in the upper atmosphere is favoured by the low density. Some atoms can remain in a metastable excited state for seconds or even hours, rather then radiating in \(1{0}^{-6}\mbox{ \textendash }1{0}^{-8}\,\mathrm{s}\). In laboratory experiments, an atom in a metastable state is usually de-excited by collisions with particles or with the wall of the vessel. At the low density prevailing above 100 km, however, the atom has a larger probability of remaining undisturbed long enough to radiate a forbidden quantum.

  4. 4.

    The most important C. Stoermer works on the motion of charged particles are: “Sur les trajectoires des corpuscules électrisés dans l’espace sous l’action du magnetisme terrestre” [8, 9]. “Ein Fundamentalproblem der Bewegung einer elektrisch geladenen Korpuskel im kosmischen Raume” [10–12]; The book [13].

  5. 5.

    A treatment of these first Stoermer’s studies was by him made in the book [13].

  6. 6.

    New York Times, 5 February 1933.

  7. 7.

    Fig. 5.1 of [77].

  8. 8.

    A solar flare is a sudden liberation of energy from a localized region on Sun, in the form of electromagnetic radiation and usually also of energetic particles. Flares occur in active Sun regions, especially at the boundary zones between solar spots of opposite magnetic polarity; their frequency changes during the solar cycle in a similar way as the spots.

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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze di Base e Applicate per l’Ingegneria (SBAI), University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Mario Bertolotti

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Bertolotti, M. (2013). The Earth’s Magnetic Field and the Geomagnetic Effects. In: Celestial Messengers. Astronomers' Universe. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28371-0_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28371-0_5

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