Researchers in the Faculty of Science have made an important contribution to new findings about Earth’s magnetic field and its role in shielding our planet from solar wind, the continuous stream of charged particles emanated by the sun.
In the discovery, published in Nature Communications, a team of Alberta-based scientists found that electromagnetic energy originating in the solar wind shows a clear preference to head toward Earth’s northern polar regions rather than their southern counterparts.
The new findings suggest that, in addition to acting as a shield from incoming solar particles, the magnetic field also actively controls how the energy is distributed and channeled into Earth’s atmosphere.
International research collaboration helps yield new discovery
Using information from the European Space Agency’s (ESA)’s Swarm satellite constellation, researchers in the University of Alberta’s Department of Physics analyzed data from electric field instruments (EFIs) designed and operated at the University of Calgary by a team led by Dr. David Knudsen, PhD, and Dr. Johnathan Burchill, PhD, both in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Lead author Dr. Ivan Pakhotin at the University of Alberta and co-authors at both universities discovered the “surprising” imbalance in how Earth’s magnetic field responds to space weather driven by the sun.
The high-calibre international partnership between the two universities and the ESA reflects the research excellence in space science in Alberta. The University of Calgary has been Canada’s most prolific university-based provider of space instrumentation, with more than 20 instruments developed and launched into space over the university’s 50-plus-year history, according to Knudsen.
While the terms “North Pole” and “South Pole” conjure images of polar bears and penguins, they refer to the north and south poles of our planet’s magnetic field, and loosely line up with Earth’s rotational axis. Earth’s magnetic field is visible in action when the aurora borealis — or northern lights — appear in the northern night skies, the result of its interaction with charged atomic particles from the sun.
While the dancing ribbons of light are a beautiful sight, they’re representative of a constant bombardment of charged particles in the solar wind, and can have significant impacts on some of our most important systems like communication networks and navigation systems (like GPS and satellites). In severe cases, solar storms can cause communication and electrical systems and even satellites to fail.
“Because the south magnetic pole is further away from Earth’s spin axis than the north magnetic pole, an asymmetry is imposed on how much energy makes its way down toward Earth in the north and south,” explains Pakhotin, the paper’s lead author and postdoctoral fellow in UAlberta’s Department of Physics.
While researchers aren’t yet sure what the effects of this asymmetry might be, the findings suggest that it could also point to an asymmetry between the aurora australis in the south and the aurora borealis in the north. Further, they suggest that the dynamics of upper atmospheric chemistry may vary between the hemispheres, particularly when geomagnetic activity is strong.
UCalgary contribution to Swarm satellite constellation essential to new findings
Knudsen and Burchill specialize in near-Earth space research, and have extensive experience in the development of space instrumentation. Knudsen serves as lead scientist for the EFIs on the Swarm satellites; Burchill has responsible for their operation since launch in 2013.
Each EFI contains two sensors known as thermal ion imagers. Initially developed at UCalgary with support from ESA and the Canadian Space Agency, and built by Ontario-based COM DEV Canada (now Honeywell), the thermal ion imagers use the same technology used in digital cameras — CCD detector technology — to detect charged particles. The sensors then produce precision measurements of ionospheric winds and temperatures. “This information is used to calculate the electric field, an important counterpart to the magnetic field,” Knudsen explains.
Understanding Earth’s electric and magnetic field environment helps scientists design better electrical grids and early warning systems when solar disturbances like mass coronal ejections or solar storms occur and affect Earth. However, the primary motivation of this research is to understand the fundamental behaviour of the charged-particle gases (plasmas) surrounding Earth, and the causes and consequences of the northern and southern lights, key aspects of which remain unexplained.
Swarm’s three satellites return information about how the magnetic field protects Earth from the dangerous particles in solar wind, along with how the field is generated and how the position of Earth’s magnetic north changes over time.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
