'Space Hurricane' Detected Flying Above North Pole for the First Time in History

As if nature didn't have enough weather events to worry about, researchers have found a "space hurricane" that happened over the upper atmosphere of the earth for the very first time in history.

Space scientist, Mike Lockwood from the University of Reading made it known in a released statement quoting: "If not now, it was not certain that there is the existence of space plasma hurricanes, so to prove that they really exist with such a striking inspection is unbelievable."

Space hurricanes do not exist only, but scientists presume that they could be more quite common inside the solar system and outside.

(Photo : Pixabay)

Magnetic Fields and Plasma in the Planet's Atmosphere

Nevertheless, this one happened back in August 2014, but the observations documented by satellites were only shown recently. With the new research, researchers were able to come up with a 3D image of the 1,000 km-wide whirling mass of plasma that showered electrons instead of showering water some hundred kilometers past the North Pole.

According to Lockwood, "Tropical storms are connected with immense amounts of energy, and these space hurricanes must be developed by strange large and speedy transfer of solar wind energy and rained particles into the upper atmosphere of the earth. Magnetic fields and Plasma in the planet's atmosphere exist all over the universe, so the studies advise space hurricanes should be a popular phenomenon."

Communication Systems

As stated by the researchers, the space hurricane stayed for close to eight hours before it started to break down, and while it does not result in flooding like hurricanes in the lower atmosphere of the earth, researchers said it could expand drag in satellite and cause interruptions in communications of high-frequency radio and even result to flaws in a location beyond the horizon radar, communication systems, and satellite navigation.

Researchers who observe the space hurricane as a popular phenomenon concluded that the process may also be crucial for the relationship throughout the universe between other solar systems and interstellar winds.

Furthermore, there is so much that is not known about these space hurricanes and other space hurricanes, which researchers have not yet discovered in the upper atmospheres of the rest of the planets, though hurricanes have been viewed at lower atmospheric levels.

Hurricanes happen in the lower atmosphere of the earth above warm bodies of water. Moist air increases when warm, thereby creating a low-pressure area beside the surface that sips in the surrounding air, leading to extremely strong winds and constituting clouds that result in heavy rain.

(Photo : Stein egil liland)

Hurricanes Detected in Other Planets

Hurricanes have also been detected in the lower atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars while big solar tornadoes have been discovered in the atmosphere of the Sun. Furthermore, the presence of space hurricanes in the planet's upper atmosphere has not been seen before.

The team of researchers from China, the United State of America, the United Kingdom, and Norway used observations made by four satellites of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program and a 3D magnetosphere modeling to create the image. Their research was released in Nature Communications.

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Tags space, Hurricanes, Earth