The Earth's magnetosphere is the region surrounding the planet, above the outer atmosphere and ionosphere (q.v.), which contains and is controlled by the Earth's magnetic field. It extends from an altitude of ∼500 km above the Earth's surface to an outer boundary which is formed by the interaction of the planetary magnetic field with the solar wind, the plasma (charged particle) gas that streams continuously outward from the Sun. On the dayside, the compressive effect of the solar wind confines the field to a region extending ∼10 Earth radii from the Earth, while on the nightside the field is stretched into a long comet‐like tail which extends typically in excess of ∼1000 Earth radii. The Earth's radius, R E∼6400 km, is thus a convenient measure of magnetospheric spatial scales. Electric currents flowing in these regions, whose magnetic effects can be observed at the Earth's surface, include those flowing at the solar wind‐magnetosphere boundary, those produced by the drift of...
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Cowley, S.W.H. (2007). Magnetosphere of the Earth. In: Gubbins, D., Herrero-Bervera, E. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4423-6_205
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