Asset Publisher

Cluster detects invisible escaping ions

Cluster detects invisible escaping ions


Date: 13 January 2009
Satellite: Cluster
Copyright: Engwall, E., et al., 2009

By applying a new analytical method to a unique set of electric field data collected by instruments onboard the Cluster mission, it has been possible to quantify the amount of hydrogen naturally escaping each year from the Earth's atmosphere. This hydrogen outflow has been shown to be of the order of thousands of tons. The escaping hydrogen has previously been invisible to classical particle detectors on satellites due to its very low energy. For further details see Engwall et al., 2009.

This graphic illustrates the larger region of the magnetosphere (green band) which was studied by Engwall et al., using Cluster data. Previous studies of outflows from the polar ionosphere have covered a much smaller volume (yellow band).

Last Update: 1 September 2019
13-Dec-2024 15:09 UT

ShortUrl Portlet

Shortcut URL

https://sci.esa.int/s/w5ea2qw

Also Available As

Related Images

Related Videos

Related Publications

Related Links

Documentation