Birkeland currents
Magnetosphere-ionosphere current system
Birkeland currents are sheets of electric current that flow along magnetic field lines connecting Earth's magnetosphere to its polar regions.
Named for Norwegian physicist Kristian Birkeland, these currents carry charged particles from the solar wind toward the poles, powering the aurora borealis and aurora australis.
The term extends to similar magnetic-field-aligned currents observed elsewhere in the solar system.
- auroraAtmospheric light display
- plasmaElectrified matter state
- magnetosphereCelestial body's protective field
- ionosphereCharged upper atmospheric layer
- plasma instabilitiesCharged gas perturbations
geomagnetism · charged particles · solar wind · electricity · field lines · magnetic field · polar lights · space weather · tubes · filaments · polar · corona · sheets · helical · Earth · Norwegian · ionized · discharge
- ionosphereauroras, aurora borealis, aurora australis, northern lights, southern lights
- space currents