For the first time, astronomers have detected a powerful 600 kilometers wide (1,000 kilometers) hurricane of plasma in Earth‘s upper atmosphere – a phenomenon they call a “hurricane in space”.
The space hurricane raged for nearly 8 hours on August 20, 2014, swirling hundreds of miles above the Earth’s magnetic North Pole, according to a study published in the journal on February 22. Nature communication.
Made of a mess of magnetic field lines and fast-flying solar winds, the hurricane was invisible to the naked eye – but four weather satellites that passed over the North Pole detected a formation that is no different from a typical terrestrial hurricane, the authors of the study wrote. The spatial hurricane has the shape of a funnel with a quiet “eye” in the middle, surrounded by a pair of clockwise rotating spiral arms plasma (ionized gas found throughout the solar system, including the Earth’s atmosphere).
Instead of raining water, the space hurricane caused electrons to rain directly into the earth’s upper atmosphere.
“Until now, it was uncertain that space plasma hurricanes even exist, so it’s incredible to prove with such a striking observation,” studied co-author Mike Lockwood, a space scientist at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. said in a statement. “Tropical storms are associated with large amounts of energy, and these spatial hurricanes must be created by unusually large and rapid transfers of solar energy and charged particles to the earth’s upper atmosphere.”
Using a 3D model of the hurricane, the researchers assumed that the formation resulted from a complex interaction between incoming solar wind (high-speed storms that are frequently released by the sun) and the magnetic field across the North Pole.
Although it is the first hurricane to be observed in space, the researchers assume that these ‘weather systems’ could be common events on any planet with a magnetic shield and plasma in its atmosphere.
“Plasma and magnetic fields in the atmosphere of planets exist throughout the universe, so the findings suggest that hurricanes in space must be a widespread phenomenon,” Lockwood said.
Should you fear the space hurricane? Probably not. The phenomenon of the upper atmosphere poses little threat to our planet, the researchers noted, but it could have an effect on the space effects of space, for example by increasing the increase in satellites or by GPS and radio communication systems disrupt.
Originally published on Live Science.