Sixty years ago, scientists proposed a hypothesis about the existence of a weak energy field surrounding our planet. The discovery of this field promised to revolutionize the scientific community’s understanding of the dynamics affecting the upper layers of our atmosphere.
Recently, in a study published in the journal Nature, a team of researchers has confirmed the existence of this energy field, known as the ambipolar field.
Ambipolar field. The ambipolar field is an electric field that generates a strong wind of particles in the polar region, directing this wind from our atmosphere to outer space.
This field is considered the “third field” of the Earth, alongside the gravitational and magnetic fields, and is thought to be as important for life as the first two. Scientists have also described it as “an agent of chaos.”
According to Glyn Collinson, a member of the NASA team responsible for the discovery, “Any planet with an atmosphere should have an ambipolar field.” “Now that we’ve finally measured it, we can begin learning how it’s shaped our planet as well as others over time,” she added.
Late 1960s. In 1968, during the early years of space exploration, crews observed a supersonic wind of particles shooting out into space. Experts at the time started speculating that this phenomenon was due to a hidden field.
Consequences. This field would cause the atmosphere to expand at the poles. Despite its weakness, the ambipolar field could overcome the gravitational field and propel hydrogen ions at supersonic speeds outward.
Additionally, it could lift heavier ions, like oxygen ions, causing the atmosphere to expand at the poles beyond what would be possible with gravity alone.
Endurance. The Endurance mission, named after the famous 1912 ship, launched in May 2022 from Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago. The mission’s main vehicle was a small suborbital rocket that reached an altitude of more than 477 miles before completing a 19-minute mission and crashing into the Greenland Sea.
At an altitude of about 322 miles, the vehicle’s instruments detected a small electrical differential of approximately 0.55 volts. The team explains that, despite being a voltage comparable to that of a watch battery, this differential was sufficient to explain the existence of the polar wind.
There’s still a lot we don’t know. The mission has confirmed the existence of this field, but we still know very little about it, according to the research team. For now, we can only speculate on how this force has shaped our atmosphere, our oceans, and life on our planet.
Further research will be necessary so that scientists can understand the relevance of the third field of our planet, the “agent of chaos” capable of counteracting gravity and being perceived from spacecraft.
Image | NASA (via Unsplash)
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