Name: A 'space hurricane' hovered above the North Pole for about 8 hours, study says
Uploaded: 2021-03-03T17:57:16+00:00
Duration: 1 min 50 s
Description: For the first time, scientists have spotted what they're calling a "space hurricane" spinning above the North Pole, according to a new study. The roughly 600-mile-wide swirling mass of plasma was loca

3 years ago

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For the first time, scientists have spotted what they're calling a "space hurricane" spinning above the North Pole, according to a new study.

The roughly 600-mile-wide swirling mass of plasma was located several hundred miles above the North Pole, and "rained" electrons instead of water, according to the study.

Until now, it was uncertain that space hurricanes even existed, "so to prove this with such a striking observation is incredible," said study co-author Mike Lockwood, a space scientist at the University of Reading in the U.K., in a statement.

The observations, made by satellites in August 2014, were only uncovered during retrospective analyses led by scientists from Shandong University in China.

In the study, Professor Lockwood and colleagues analyzed data gathered by four Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites in 2014.

They detected a 1,000-km- (621-mile) wide mass of plasma in the northern polar ionosphere and magnetosphere during low solar and otherwise low geomagnetic activity.

The hurricane was spinning in an anticlockwise direction, had multiple spiral arms, and lasted almost eight hours before gradually breaking down.

The scientists said the hurricanes open a rapid energy transfer channel from space to the ionosphere and thermosphere and would be expected to lead to important space weather effects such as increased satellite drag, disturbances in high frequency radio communications and increased errors in over-the-horizon radar location, satellite navigation and communication systems.

Source: http://www.sci-news.com/space/space-hurricane-09408.html

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/02/space-hurricane-spotted-above-north-pole-study-says/6889401002/

Source: https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/space-hurricane-observed-above-the-north-pole/

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