Scientists say they have confirmed the existence of space hurricanes after studying a moving mass of plasma 1,000 kilometers above the North Pole.
The space shuttle, which saw satellites in Earth’s upper atmosphere, was emitting electricity instead of water, stretched in an anticlockwise direction and lasted nearly eight hours before breaking down.
The hurricanes would be expected to lead to significant space weather effects and disruption to GPS systems, scientists have found.
A team of scientists, led by Shandong University in China, analyzed observations made by satellites in August 2014 and created a 3D image of the hurricane in the Earth’s ionosphere.
The findings, published in Nature Communications, confirmed the existence of previously undiscovered space hurricanes, reproducing the main features of the event and explaining how it was created.
Professor Mike Lockwood, a space scientist at Reading University, said the hurricanes could be a global phenomenon at planets and moons with magnetic and plasma fields.
He said: “Until now, it was not certain that plasma hurricanes were even in place, so it is amazing to prove this.
“Tropical storms are associated with a lot of energy, and these space hurricanes must be created by an unusually large and rapid movement of solar wind energy and charged particles into the Earth’s upper atmosphere.
“Plasma and magnetic fields in planetary atmospheres are found all over the world, so the results show that hurricanes should be very widespread. ”
The space hurricane, which occurred during low geomagnetic activity, was found to share many features with hurricanes in the Earth’s low atmosphere, including a silent center, several spinning arms and wide orbit.
The scientists said the hurricanes open a fast-moving energy channel from space to the ionosphere and thermosphere and would be expected to affect important space weather such as increased satellite latency, disturbances in high frequency radio communication and more errors. in too much horizon. radar space, satellite navigation and communications systems.
The team said the process could also be important for the interaction between interspecific winds and other solar systems around the globe.