Invisible “space hurricane” discovered for the first time over the North Pole

1000 km. the plasma “space hurricane” raging over the North Pole has been confirmed and described by scientists for the first time, the University of Reading said in a press release on Thursday. Despite the name, the space hurricane has nothing to do with terrestrial storm weather. Unlike the latter, which occur in the Earth’s lower atmosphere, cosmic hurricanes occur in the upper atmosphere. The “storm” here consists of a combination of solar winds (high-speed plasma released by the sun) and magnetic field lines. Eventually, the winds move quickly, and because of the magnetic field lines, they form a hurricane-like shape. And just as an ordinary hurricane pours rain, a cosmic hurricane pours out electrons. But while scientists had theoretical knowledge of the phenomenon, it is not clear whether they actually even existed. The fact that such storms would not be visible to the naked eye is only less likely to be detected, but in fact one such storm was detected, with four meteorological satellites detecting it over the magnetic North Pole raging for about eight hours on August 20. 201

4 The lines of the North Pole’s magnetic field had caused a storm of plasma and charged particles to form a rotating funnel, with a quiet “eye” in the center, similar to the eye of a storm. This finding, published in a peer-reviewed academic journal Nature Communications, is important because it is the first registered evidence that the phenomenon is even possible. But scientists are convinced that this was not only a one-time phenomenon, but space hurricanes must be common on other planets with a magnetic shield and have plasma in its atmosphere.

“Plasma and magnetic fields in the planet’s atmosphere exist throughout the universe, so the findings suggest that space hurricanes must be widespread,” said study co-author Mike Lockwood, a space scientist at the University of Reading. Despite the threatening name, space hurricanes are not inherently dangerous, as the phenomena in the upper atmospheres pose little or no threat to the rest of the planet. However, they can affect GPS, radio signals, and even satellite navigation. In a statement, lead author Prof. Qing-He Zhang of Shadong University in China warned that the phenomenon could lead to “increased errors in off-horizon radar location, satellite navigation and communication systems.”

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Invisible “space hurricane” discovered for the first time over the North Pole

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