Earth losing atmosphere faster than Mars
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Irene Klotz
Our planet's magnetic shield may not be as solid a protective screen from the sun as once believed, according to new research.
Christopher Russell, a professor of geophysics and space physics at the University of California, Los Angeles says Earth is losing more of its atmosphere than Venus and Mars, which have negligible magnetic fields.
Russell presented his research at a recent American Geophysical Union conference in Toronto.
"We often tell ourselves that we are very fortunate living on this planet because we have this strong magnetic shield that protects us from all sorts of things that the cosmos throws at us - cosmic rays, solar flares and the pesky solar wind," says Russell.
"It certainly does help in some of those areas but ... in the case of the atmosphere, this may not be true."
Russell and others came to this realisation while meeting at a comparative planetology conference last month.
"Three of us who work on Earth, Venus and Mars got together and compared notes," Russell says. "We said, 'Oh my goodness - what we've been telling people about the magnetic shield is not correct.'"
Solar wind
The perpetrators are streams of charged particles blasting off the sun in what is known as the solar wind.
"The interaction of solar wind with Venus and Mars is pretty simple," Russell says.
"The wind comes in, carries a magnetic field, which wraps around the ionosphere of the planet. The ionosphere is basically dragged away."
Earth's magnetic field interacts with the solar wind, drawing out energy that gets funnelled into the planet's atmosphere along its magnetic field lines.
"The wind has to flow around this large magnetic obstacle in its path," Russell says. "The two are not friction-free."
Aurorae
In addition to triggering aurorae, the process causes Earth's atmosphere to heat up to the point where atmospheric gases can escape along the field lines, where they are then picked up by the solar wind.
"The visible manifestation of geomagnetic activity is the aurora - the sun interacts with magnetosphere and causes it to glow - but there are other things that go on when the particles interact with the atmosphere," says Scott Bailey, with the Center for Space Science and Engineering Research at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Despite the rather mind-boggling rate at which Earth is losing atmosphere - 5×1025 molecules per second - scientists say there is no cause for alarm.
If the loss rate stays the same, the planet's atmosphere will last for several more billion years.
"Ultimately we're trying to understand why Venus, Mars and Earth atmospheres behave so different when initially the planets were pretty much the same," says Russell.
Russell and colleagues are working on a paper that details the comparative atmospheric losses of Earth, Venus and Mars.
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Time to put on more sun block when outdoors.
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"Ultimately we're trying to understand why Venus, Mars and Earth atmospheres behave so different when initially the planets were pretty much the same," says Russell.
I'd like to think that a Creator is responsible for it
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diao...several more billion years...
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Despite the rather mind-boggling rate at which Earth is losing atmosphere - 5×1025 molecules per second
Certainly Mind-boggling .... -
earth will lose more atmosphere than mars cos earth has more atmosphere than mars mah
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Originally posted by Bangulzai:
earth will lose more atmosphere than mars cos earth has more atmosphere than mars mah
They never mention about how fast the planets spin. Centrifugal force at work?
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Originally posted by Chew Bakar:
They never mention about how fast the planets spin. Centrifugal force at work?
ya they never mentioned. if i wan to know i will go find out, and see how fast mars spin therefore how much atmosphere would have been kept in place in the first place
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Thanks to human activities...
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Originally posted by lianamaster:
Thanks to human activities...
No relation, I believe. We don't have such an impact.
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Originally posted by Chew Bakar:
No relation, I believe. We don't have such an impact.
Then... is Earth losing its existence.?
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Originally posted by lianamaster:
Then... is Earth losing its existence.?
Nothing last forever.
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Originally posted by Chew Bakar:
They never mention about how fast the planets spin. Centrifugal force at work?
There is this series on the history channel "The Universe" with 14 episodes. If I remembered it was episode 4 or 5 talking about the moon, that they theorized that the earth spun this fast was because when the earth was nothing more than a molten mass with less than 90% mass than what it is now that something really huge hit it and set it spinning.
Then the moon was formed when the broken pieces flew off and slowly grew into a clump they called the moon. They say its the most probable theory based on the blah blah facts lar.
It is also the moon's gravitational pull that keeps the earth tilted, which gives rise to the 4 distinct seasons, otherwise earth will face extreme wrath from the sun man.
Then they say that the moon is moving further from the earth, about 4cm a year. Because someone left mirrors there when they visited the void, and people shoot lasers at it to determine its distance.
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Originally posted by lianamaster:
Then... is Earth losing its existence.?
The same tv program said that we people are the most adaptable creatures in the world, thats why we have been living so long and come up with all these technology, hence whatever thrown at us, we find someway to adapt anyway, either no fossil fuels left, sea level rises, no ozone layer, blah blah blah...
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Worry about the 2012 solar storm first ba... With so much e-everything, we might lose global communications for days if the storm really wrecks that much havoc....
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Originally posted by ditzy:
There is this series on the history channel "The Universe" with 14 episodes. If I remembered it was episode 4 or 5 talking about the moon, that they theorized that the earth spun this fast was because when the earth was nothing more than a molten mass with less than 90% mass than what it is now that something really huge hit it and set it spinning.
Then the moon was formed when the broken pieces flew off and slowly grew into a clump they called the moon. They say its the most probable theory based on the blah blah facts lar.
It is also the moon's gravitational pull that keeps the earth tilted, which gives rise to the 4 distinct seasons, otherwise earth will face extreme wrath from the sun man.
Then they say that the moon is moving further from the earth, about 4cm a year. Because someone left mirrors there when they visited the void, and people shoot lasers at it to determine its distance.
Thanks saw that series too few years back.
Also another on how moon affect human/animals just like they affect the seawater. So on full moon more crimes and lunacy increases.
Can observe in sgf the last few days. Full Moon. hehe. -
Originally posted by Shotgun:
Worry about the 2012 solar storm first ba... With so much e-everything, we might lose global communications for days if the storm really wrecks that much havoc....
There are alot of theories giving rise to the possible doomsday for that day at that year, but there are just as many stating the impossibility of that event.
The solar storm happens to be one of them, just happens that 2012 is the year of the high for the 11 year cycle. -
Hacking Earth Against Warming, Scientists Favor Fake Volcanoes
Could cannons, balloons and high-wire planes send sulfur back into the atmosphere and save the planet? As the Senate debates a controversial climate-change bill, meteorologists and economists alike say geoengineering solutions aren’t so far-out anymore.
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Originally posted by ditzy:
There are alot of theories giving rise to the possible doomsday for that day at that year, but there are just as many stating the impossibility of that event.
The
solar storm happens to be one of them, just happens that 2012 is
the year of the high for the 11 year cycle.I never say it was doomsday ah... maybe for the die hard peoples playing World of Warcraft ba... gonna lag like hell for them.
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Originally posted by deepak.c:
Hacking Earth Against Warming, Scientists Favor Fake Volcanoes
Could cannons, balloons and high-wire planes send sulfur back into the atmosphere and save the planet? As the Senate debates a controversial climate-change bill, meteorologists and economists alike say geoengineering solutions aren’t so far-out anymore.
Popular mechanics magazine, I find their adverts more believable than their articles.
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Originally posted by ditzy:
Popular mechanics magazine, I find their adverts more believable than their articles.