blank image
Previous Animation
Next Animation
Tour of the Plasmasphere and Plasmapause

The plasmasphere is a region of ionospheric plasma which co-rotates with the Earth, carried by the magnetic field lines. This plasma tends to be colder (i.e. the ions have lower average energy) than the outer region of the magnetosphere. The plasmapause marks the outer boundary of this region. This visualization is a simple fly-around tour of the plasmapause (green) in a relatively quiescent state. For this visualization, the 3-dimensional structure was constructed from the equatorial profile of the plasmapause (as measured by IMAGE/EUV data) by extending the region along field lines of a simple dipole field.

Fly-around view of the plasmasphere, from the north pole to the south.    Fly-around view of the plasmasphere, from the north pole to the south.
Duration: 12.0 seconds
Available formats:
  720x480 (30 fps) Frames
  640x480 (30 fps) MPEG-1   6 MB
  720x480 (29.97 fps) MPEG-2   10 MB
  320x240 (30 fps) MPEG-1   1 MB
  320x240     JPEG         8 KB
  320x240     JPEG         8 KB
  320x240 (30 fps) X-FLV       419 KB
How to play our movies


A view of the plasmasphere above the north geographic pole.    A view of the plasmasphere above the north geographic pole.

Available formats:
  2560 x 1920     TIFF 1 MB
  160 x 80           PNG       27 KB
  320 x 240         JPEG       8 KB
  80 x 40             PNG         9 KB


An oblique view of the plasmasphere.    An oblique view of the plasmasphere.

Available formats:
  2560 x 1920     TIFF 1 MB
  320 x 240         JPEG       8 KB


An equatorial view of the plasmasphere.    An equatorial view of the plasmasphere.

Available formats:
  2560 x 1920     TIFF 1 MB
  320 x 240         JPEG       9 KB

Animation Number:3050
Completed:2004-12-01
Animators:Tom Bridgman (GST) (Lead)
 James W. Williams (GST)
 Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
Scientist:Jerald Goldstein (SwRI)
Platform/Sensor/Data Set:IMAGE/EUV (2003/10/29)
Series:Halloween 2003 Solar Storms Revisited
Goddard TV Tape:G2004-071
Keywords:
SVS >> Plasmasphere
DLESE >> Space science
SVS >> Plasmapause
SVS >> Space Weather
 
 
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio


Back to Top

USA.gov logo - the U.S. Government's official Web portal. + Privacy Policy and Important Notices
+ Reproduction Guidelines
NASA NASA Official:
Content Contact:
Curator: