July 25, 2008 9:43 AM PDT
These substorms often accompany space storms that can disrupt radio communications and GPS location devices, and cause power outages. By knowing more about the process, scientists hope to better predict the power and effect of a magnetic storm.
"As they capture and store energy from the solar wind, the Earth's magnetic field lines stretch far out into space. Magnetic reconnection releases the energy stored within these stretched magnetic field lines, flinging charged particles back toward the Earth's atmosphere," said David Sibeck, THEMIS project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Photo by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
