With the help of satellites, researchers have detected a cyclone in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Their results are Published in “Nature Communications” magazine. The incident suggests that such incidents may also occur on other planetary bodies, the team writes.
It was already known that Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have cyclones in the lower atmosphere. But the existence of a storm-like pattern of space storms in the planet’s upper atmosphere – previously uncertain.
Qing-he Zhang and his colleagues from Shandong University of China used satellite data to describe the storm at the Earth’s magnetic north pole. The vortex was therefore not formed in the air, but in the plasma of the ionosphere, so it contains ionized gas, as is everywhere in the solar system. Researchers reported that the structure rotates counterclockwise like a storm in the Northern Hemisphere – and it takes about eight hours before it slowly collapses.
Like storms in other regions of the world, it had a quiet center, spiral arms, and a wide circulation. It also received rain, but not from energetic electrons and water.
Using the 3-D model, the team reconstructed the dimensions and shape of the vertex. The animation also provides information about the formation of the storm. (asw)
