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Magnetospheric physics

Turbulence on a small scale

Nature volume 436, pages 782–783 (2005)Cite this article

The four-spacecraft Cluster mission has identified small-scale vortices in Earth's magnetosphere. The observation reveals processes that transfer energy and momentum from the solar wind to the magnetosphere.

Turbulence is ubiquitous. It can be seen by gently stirring cream into coffee, or by observing the white caps and surf at the beach, and it causes the drag on cars and aeroplanes. The phenomenon is also widespread in magnetized plasmas — ionized gases that contain a magnetic field — such as the interstellar and intergalactic media, the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere.

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Figure 1: Transverse cut of Earth's magnetosphere.

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  1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 612.2, Greenbelt, 20771, Maryland, USA

    Melvyn L. Goldstein

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  1. Melvyn L. Goldstein
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Goldstein, M. Turbulence on a small scale. Nature 436, 782–783 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/436782a

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