A Space Hurricane Has Been Observed Over the North Pole for the First Time

Illustration of the space hurricane. (Qing-He Zhang, Shandong University)

A hurricane has been discovered in Earth's upper atmosphere for the first time. Satellites captured a large swirling swirl of plasma reaching far into the magnetosphere in 2014, which lasted for hours before dissipating.

While this is the first time we've seen something like it, its discovery indicates that space hurricanes, as they're called, could be a common planetary phenomenon.

Space plasma hurricanes were previously unknown, so to prove their presence with such a striking observation is amazing, according to space environment physicist Mike Lockwood.

Hurricanes are common in the Earth's lower atmosphere: large, spinning weather systems with strong winds and lashing rain that can inflict significant amounts of damage in a short period of time.

They're still not unusual on other people's bodies: Jupiter and Saturn, in particular, are highly chaotic worlds, with roiling plasma tornadoes deep inside the Sun's atmosphere.

The latest research shows that space hurricanes are close to their lower-atmosphere cousins.

The results were discovered during a retrospective study led by Shandong University in China on August 20, 2014. The hurricane appeared over the North Pole, with a diameter of 1,000 kilometers, according to the results (621 miles).

It was composed of plasma with several spiral arms spinning in an anticlockwise direction at speeds up to 2,100 meters per second at altitudes ranging from 110 to 860 kilometers (6,900 feet per second). The middle, on the other hand, was almost motionless, just like hurricanes at lower altitudes.

The space hurricane, on the other hand, rained electrons into the ionosphere, unlike other hurricanes. The outcome was a beautiful aurora in the form of a cyclone under the hurricane. It lasted nearly eight hours and deposited huge quantities of energy and momentum into the ionosphere.

The rest of the time, it was silent, which raised a puzzle. The solar wind typically rains charged particles into the ionosphere, resulting in glowing green aurorae at higher latitudes, but solar conditions were relatively quiet at the time. As a result, the team switched to modeling to find out what was causing the plasma commotion.

Lockwood clarified that tropical storms are associated with vast quantities of energy, and that these space hurricanes must be produced by an unusually large and rapid transfer of solar wind through the Earth's upper atmosphere, releasing energy and charged particles.

We know that reconnecting magnetic field lines can transfer solar wind energy into the magnetosphere and ionosphere, so the researchers modeled the process and discovered that even when the solar wind is weak, a reconnecting interplanetary magnetic field can generate the features seen in the space hurricane. In fact, the low solar wind may be crucial because it encourages magnetic reconnection.

It also suggests that such storms are likely to occur regularly.

Since plasma and magnetic fields in the atmospheres of planets exist everywhere in the world, Lockwood claims that space hurricanes should be a natural occurrence.

There are also consequences for Earth. Knowing that space hurricanes can generate aurorae and what these aurorae look like might help us spot more of these storms in the future.

It also demonstrates that, even when geomagnetic conditions are relatively stable, space can create extreme weather that has an effect on life on Earth as well as the skies above it.

This research indicates that localized extreme geomagnetic disruption and energy depositions similar to those seen during super storms could still occur. According to space physics professor Qing-He Zhang, "this will update our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling mechanism under extremely quiet geomagnetic conditions."

Furthermore, the space hurricane would cause major space weather effects such as increased satellite drag, interference with High Frequency radio communications, and increased errors in over-the-horizon radar location, satellite navigation, and communication systems.