According to the latest issue of Nature magazine, with the help of data from NASA's Endurance rocket mission, an international team of scientists has successfully measured for the first time the electric field of the entire Earth, which is believed to be as important as Earth's gravity and magnetic field. This type of electric field is called a bipolar electric field. Scientists proposed a hypothesis over 60 years ago that it drives the Earth's atmosphere to escape from the North and South Poles. The data from the Endurance mission confirmed the existence of a bipolar electric field and quantified its strength, revealing its role in driving atmospheric escape and shaping the Earth's ionosphere (upper atmosphere) more widely. Understanding the complex motion and evolution of the Earth's atmosphere not only provides scientists with clues to Earth's history, but also allows them to gain insight into the mysteries of other planets and determine which planets may be suitable for the existence of life. Since the late 1960s, spacecraft flying over the Earth's poles have detected a stream of particles flowing from the atmosphere into space. Theorists refer to it as a polar wind and believe that the outflow phenomenon in the atmosphere may be due to strong, unfiltered sunlight causing some particles in the atmosphere to escape into space, just like water evaporating from a pot into steam. Hydrogen ions are the most abundant particle type in polar winds, subjected to outward forces 10.6 times stronger than gravity. It is puzzling that many particles observed in the extreme wind are cold and show no signs of being heated, yet they move at supersonic speeds. Scientists suspect that there is some force pulling these particles out of the atmosphere, and an undiscovered electric field may be at work in it. In the data collected by the Endurance, the potential change within an altitude range of approximately 518 kilometers is only 0.55 volts. Half a volt is only equivalent to the voltage of a watch battery, but this voltage can precisely explain polar winds. Researchers say that half a volt is enough to counteract gravity and allow particles to enter space at supersonic speeds. The research team found that bipolar electric fields increase the "elevation" of the ionosphere by 271%. This means that at higher altitudes, the ionosphere can still maintain a higher particle density. A bipolar electric field is like a "conveyor belt" that lifts the ion layer to a higher position. Bipolar electric fields, as the fundamental energy field of the Earth alongside gravity and magnetic fields, may have been shaping the evolution of the atmosphere. Due to its generation by atmospheric dynamics, scientists expect similar electric fields to exist on other planets, including Venus and Mars. (New Society)