Above Earth’s surface is the next source of magnetic field, the ionospheric dynamo—an electric current system flowing in the planet’s ionosphere. Beginning at about 50 kilometres and extending above 1,000 kilometres with a maximum at 400 kilometres, the ionosphere is formed primarily by the action of sunlight on atmospheric particles. There sunlight strips electrons from neutral atoms and produces a partially ionized gas (plasma). On the dayside of Earth near local noon and near the subsolar point, the Sun heats the ionosphere to high temperatures and causes it to flow away from noon toward midnight in a roughly radial pattern. The flow moves both neutral atoms and charged particles across Earth’s magnetic field lines. The Lorentz force, discussed earlier, causes the charges to be deflected in opposite directions perpendicular to the velocity of the charges and also the local field. This charge separation creates an electric field that also exerts a force on the charged particles. The form of the resulting electric field distribution is strongly dependent on the distribution of ionospheric conductivity and magnetic field. It is generally assumed, for example, that there is little ionospheric conductivity on the nightside and hence no current can flow there. As for the magnetic field, it points upward in the Southern Hemisphere, horizontally northward at the Equator, and downward in the Northern Hemisphere. The horizontal component of the magnetic field exerts a vertical force on charges that move as a result of winds. At the Equator this causes the positive and negative charges to be deflected vertically and produces a strong vertical electric field that impedes further separation of the charges. At higher magnetic latitudes the magnetic field is primarily vertical and the deflections are horizontal, producing horizontal electric fields.

In general, charges separated by mechanical or chemical forces, as in dynamos or batteries, will discharge if there is an external electrical conductor through which they can flow. At high and low latitudes this process occurs in the same medium that generates the charge separation. The actual current path is particularly complex in the ionosphere because the electrical conductivity is spatially inhomogeneous and anisotropic; i.e., it varies from point to point and has different values in different directions relative to the magnetic and electric fields present.

The form of the electric currents flowing in the ionosphere has been deduced from ground observations of daily variations in the magnetic field. On magnetically quiet days the field is observed to change in a systematic manner dependent primarily on local time and latitude. This variation has been dubbed the solar quiet-day variation, S_q. The magnetic variations can be used to deduce an equivalent electric current system, which, if flowing in the E region of the ionosphere, would produce the observed changes. This system was shown for the equinoctial conditions of equal illumination of both hemispheres when the pattern was symmetrical about the Equator. The pattern consisted of two current vortices circulating about foci at + and −30° magnetic latitude. Viewed from the Sun, circulation was counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Approximately 500,000 amperes flowed eastward parallel to the Equator between the two foci. Apart from small changes brought about by daily rotation of small anomalies in the main field, the current and its effects at a fixed point in space were nearly steady. A magnetic observatory, however, rotated beneath different parts of the current system and recorded a time-varying magnetic field.

A detailed analysis of the daily variation reveals that several important factors contribute to the ionospheric wind system driving the dynamo. The most significant of these is the solar heating of the atmosphere discussed above. There is, however, a semidiurnal component caused by solar gravity that is roughly half as large as the diurnal component. As in the oceans, the tidal effect of gravity produces peaks in pressure at midnight as well as at noon. The resulting winds are more complex than is the case for the diurnal component. Similarly, there is a semidiurnal lunar component driven by lunar gravity. This variation is named the lunar daily variation, L. Its peak-to-peak amplitude is about 1/20 that of S_q.

The ring current

Farther out, at 4 R_e and beyond, is the next major source of magnetic field, the ring current. At this distance almost all atmospheric particles are fully ionized and, hence, subject to the effects of electric and magnetic fields. Furthermore, the density of the particles is so low that the time between collisions may be many days or months. Here energetic charged particles tend to behave independently rather than as part of a fluid. The behaviour of these particles may be approximated by the superposition of three types of motion, as shown schematically in the figure. These types include gyration about the main field, “bounce” along field lines, and azimuthal drift in rings around Earth.

Gyration is caused by the Lorentz force, which makes charged particles move in circles around magnetic field lines. Reflection of particles at the ends of field lines is produced by the converging geometry of a dipole field. As a gyrating charged particle approaches Earth moving along a field line, the particle encounters a magnetic mirror that reflects it. The mirror force is a component of the Lorentz force antiparallel to the motion of the particle when field lines converge.

Azimuthal drift is produced by two effects: a decrease in the strength of the main field away from Earth and a curvature of magnetic field lines. The first effect is easy to understand by considering the dependence of the particles’ radius of gyration on the strength of the magnetic field. Strong fields cause small orbits. When a particle gyrates in Earth’s field, it has a larger radius close to Earth than it does farther away. The projection of such motion into the equatorial plane is a cycloidal trajectory in a ring around Earth rather than a simple circle around a local field line. Particles of opposite charge drift in opposite directions because their sense of gyration about the direction of the magnetic field is opposite—i.e., protons gyrate in a left-handed sense (left-handed with respect to Earth’s rotation axis) and drift westward, while electrons gyrate in a right-handed sense and drift eastward. Because the particles drift in opposite directions, they produce an electric current in the same direction as the proton drift.

A second cause of azimuthal drift is known as curvature drift, depicted in the figure of particle motion in Earth’s magnetic field. Particles with velocity nearly parallel to a field line at the Equator will initially move along the field line. Very soon, however, the field line curves away from the direction of particle motion. When this happens, there is a finite angle between the field and particle velocity, and the particle experiences the Lorentz force. For protons this force is azimuthally westward, causing them to begin drifting in this direction. Now, however, there is a finite angle between the westward drift velocity and the field that creates a Lorentz force earthward. This force bends the trajectory of the particles along the field line. Together the components of particle velocity along the field line and transverse to it cause the drift phenomenon in question.

A collection of charged particles trapped in Earth’s inner magnetic field and drifting as described above constitutes a Van Allen radiation belt. The current produced by this drift causes a magnetic field at Earth’s surface similar to that of a large ring of current in the planet’s magnetic equatorial plane. Because Earth is small compared with the size of this ring, the field is nearly uniform over the planet’s surface. Its effect is to reduce the strength of the surface field. Actually, the particle drift is not confined to the equatorial plane, and the currents fill a doughnut-shaped volume defined by the shape of dipole field lines (see the figure of particle motion).