TPOD: Plasma In Three Dimensions

[mharratsc]

I was checking out the picture of the bands of plasma circling the globe, and noticed that there are knots in the filaments circling the globe. One of those knots sits right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, along the equator, where I believe someone had mentioned from another thread here that there was parked a "permanent bank of thunderstorms".

Anyone familiar with the concept, and more importantly the location of these things- could you compare the actual position of this supercell to the bright knots on the NASA pic and check to see if there is any correlation of the positions? That would be interesting if they lined up, I think...

Mike H.

[mharratsc]

My wife, my dad, and I were discussing the picture from this TPOD. As I was showing it to them, my wife told me that the picture reminded her of a graphic she saw on a show that discussed how the Earth's magnetic field was weakening. Said that she remembered that there was a stripe across the equator wherein they said that "more ultraviolet light was getting through from the Sun from the weakening magnetic field there." (Edit: I should note that the view of the 'ultraviolet bands' surrounding the Earth clearly demonstrate that we're not viewing 'more ultraviolet getting through from the Sun' but rather untraviolet light radiating from these bands upwards towards the camera, and of course they would radiate downward towards the planet as well).

She found a similar graphic at the below site:

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1920493/posts

While I was looking at the picture from the TPOD and trying to compare it to the picture above, I was trying to see if I could correlate the "magnetic anomalies" reported with the bright beads in the plasma bands going around the planet. I was trying to also determine from the pictures if any of the beads showed up over major tectonic joints, geologically active areas, or any other areas of interest.

One of the beads seems to lie right above the tectonic joint in the Sea of Japan area. Two of the beads seem to be over the deserts of Africa (difficult to tell, exactly- but darn close!)

Basically, I'm wondering if we're starting to map the current flow areas of the planet unbeknownst to the people doing the research?

Thoughts?

Mike H.

[Osmosis]

Knots in plasma---diocotron instabilities (possibility?) are evident on all planets and at least the local star. These appear as belts, or bands of weather instability. t€he sun has weather, too, just a bit hotter than here.

[mharratsc]

If it is- what a wonderful opportunity for plasma scientists! So far, the efforts of the plasma researchers has led to greater understanding of the Universe around us. Now perhaps the Universe can help teach us some stuff about plasma!

Most of the work (at least that I've seen) regarding diocotron instabilities and whatnot have been done in millisecond blasts, and the aftereffects then studied. If that is truly what is going on around the planet then it is an opportunity for plasma physicists to study the physics of this phenomenon in a sustained event at a (relatively) close distance. They may need to switch their primary tools from banks of capacitors to ultraviolet cameras, but still!

Mike H.