First-ever 'space hurricane' detected over the North Pole

[Disir]

For the first time, astronomers have detected a powerful, 600-mile-wide (1,000 kilometers) hurricane of plasma in Earth's upper atmosphere — a phenomenon they're calling a "space hurricane."

The space hurricane raged for nearly 8 hours on Aug. 20, 2014, swirling hundreds of miles above Earth's magnetic North Pole, according to a study published Feb. 22 in the journal Nature Communications.

Made from a tangled mess of magnetic field lines and fast-flying solar wind, the hurricane was invisible to the naked eye — however, four weather satellites that passed over the North Pole detected a formation not unlike a typical terrestrial hurricane, the study authors wrote. The space hurricane was shaped like a funnel with a quiet "eye" at the center, surrounded by several counterclockwise-spinning spiral arms of plasma (ionized gas found all over the solar system, including in Earth's atmosphere).

First-ever 'space hurricane' detected over the North Pole

Any planet with plasma and a magnetic field could be victim to these 'violent' space storms, researchers said.

www.livescience.com

I don't remember that far back to that date. Sometimes Live Science feels like clickbait.

 

[ReinyDays]

Although an interesting discovery ... I agree that the name "space hurricane" is strictly click-bait ... both are vortices, but the energy source is completely different ... much like the bathtub drain swirl is the exact same shape as a tornado, but no one would confuse that with an actual tornado ... except for maybe a climate change freak ...

Fascinating that they seem to have detected an "eye" structure in this plasma field ... strangely, these eye structures in regular hurricanes defy the Laws of Physics, no one knows what causes them to occur ... the fastest wind speeds should be along the axis of rotation, whereas we find these winds well removed by dozens of miles ... there's a ton of speculations as to the cause (so beware Googling this), but no one to date has produced the math that correctly describes the eye structure ... and if indeed we are finding this in the plasma vortex, then most if not all of this speculation is wrong ... the eye structure must be caused by external forces ...

Nature just got more confusing ...

 

[Grumblenuts]

Of course they're related except to thankfully rare, die-hard, climate change denier freaks.

 

[Decus]

Of course they're related except to thankfully rare, die-hard, climate change denier freaks.

You might want to read about the earth's weakening magnetosphere and cosmic radiation:

"These new findings suggest that in addition to shielding Earth from incoming solar radiation, the magnetic field also actively controls how the energy is distributed and channeled into the upper atmosphere."

Energy from solar wind favors the north

Using information from ESA's Swarm satellite constellation, scientists have made a discovery about how energy generated by electrically-charged particles in the solar wind flows into Earth's atmosphere—surprisingly, more of it heads towards the magnetic north pole than towards the magnetic south...

phys.org

Swarm probes weakening of Earth's magnetic field

In an area stretching from Africa to South America, Earth's magnetic field is gradually weakening. This strange behaviour has geophysicists puzzled and is causing technical disturbances in satellites orbiting Earth. Scientists are using data from ESA's Swarm constellation to improve our...

phys.org

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[ding]

...these eye structures in regular hurricanes defy the Laws of Physics

Our understanding of the laws of physics. Or more accurately, our laws of physics are wrong when it comes to predicting where the fastest winds should be.

 

[TNHarley]

climate change denier

Name on person, that isnt mentally ill, that denies the climate changes.

 

[ReinyDays]

...these eye structures in regular hurricanes defy the Laws of Physics

Our understanding of the laws of physics. Or more accurately, our laws of physics are wrong when it comes to predicting where the fastest winds should be.

These laws that predict vortex behaviors in every other example are as robust as any ... does a single counter-example render the whole field of research invalid? ... my sense is the laws are correct, but we're not taking into consideration some other factor within a hurricane ... these types of storms aren't the best understood after all ...

 

[ding]

...these eye structures in regular hurricanes defy the Laws of Physics

Our understanding of the laws of physics. Or more accurately, our laws of physics are wrong when it comes to predicting where the fastest winds should be.

These laws that predict vortex behaviors in every other example are as robust as any ... does a single counter-example render the whole field of research invalid? ... my sense is the laws are correct, but we're not taking into consideration some other factor within a hurricane ... these types of storms aren't the best understood after all ...

When measurements don't match theory, usually it's the theory that is wrong. That doesn't necessarily invalidate everything in the theory.

 

[ding]

Of course they're related except to thankfully rare, die-hard, climate change denier freaks.

You do science a great disservice when you dismiss investigation of the status quo.

Why is it that you want the planet to be colder during an ice age?