Whistler-mode waves tagged posts

Different types of plasma waves triggered by various mechanisms, occupy different regions of space around Earth.
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith

NASA’s Van Allen Probes have observed a new population of space sound waves, called plasmaspheric hiss, which are important in removing high-energy particles from around Earth that can damage satellites. Disturbances in space, can cause waves which occur as fluctuating electric and magnetic fields plow through clumps of ions and electrons that compose the plasma, pushing some to accelerated speeds. This interaction controls the balance of highly energetic particles injected and lost from in the near-Earth environment.

One type of plasma wave fundamental to shaping our near-Earth environment are whistler-mode waves...