600 mile wide ‘Space hurricane’ spotted above Earth for the first time ever

The space hurricane lasted almost eight hours before it began to break down, according to the researchers, and while it doesn't lead to flooding like hurricanes in the Earth's lower atmosphere, scientists said it could increase satellite drag, cause disturbances in high frequency radio communications and even lead to errors in over-the-horizon radar location, satellite navigation, and communication systems.

[link to thehill.com (secure)]

That is fascinating.

Lens flare?

Doom on?

How fucking stupid...

The primary cause of a hurricane is wind and air pressure.

Fucking morons...

Lol, 2 five star ratings.

Fucking retards.

Did you even read the article?

The cause is plasma, consisting of electrons.

Understanding that you probably failed 10th grade physics class and the difference between electron plasma and air pressure is way over your head, but...

Isn't it funny how people on GLP publicly humiliate themselves as ignorant fuckwits?

lol

Anyway, nice find OP. This really is an interesting phenomena. Definitely not doom, but cool.

Also, pine requested. Not just because it's cool, but also because I am sure someone in GLP can turn this into impending doom.

Like I said, fucking morons...

So it’s not a hurricane at all, is it? Not in any sense of the word, is it?

No, not at all. It would be considered a swirling spatial vortex.

Again, fucking morons.

STFU you illiterate dumb fuck.

Has it been blamed on global warming climate change yet?

If I stop working, driving and living will it help stop this awful space weather?

So this paper was published in a peer reviewed, respected journal by an astrophysicist at University of Reading.

Thank you for your correction. Very convincing.

No, it's far above the atmosphere, so it is not climate driven.

So here is the news release from the University of Reading

SPACE HURRICANE OBSERVED FOR THE FIRST TIME

The first observations of a space hurricane have been revealed in Earth’s upper atmosphere, confirming their existence and shedding new light on the relationship between planets and space.

The unprecedented observations, made by satellites in August 2014, were only uncovered during retrospective analysis by scientists at the University of Reading, as part of a team led by Shandong University in China, that confirmed the hurricane and offered clues about its formation.

This analysis has now allowed a 3D image to be created of the 1,000km-wide swirling mass of plasma several hundred kilometres above the North Pole, raining electrons instead of water, and in many ways resembling the hurricanes we are familiar with in the Earth’s lower atmosphere.

Professor Mike Lockwood, space scientist at the University of Reading, said: “Until now, it was uncertain that space plasma hurricanes even existed, so to prove this with such a striking observation is incredible”.

“Tropical storms are associated with huge amounts of energy, and these space hurricanes must be created by unusually large and rapid transfer of solar wind energy and charged particles into the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

“Plasma and magnetic fields in the atmosphere of planets exist throughout the universe, so the findings suggest space hurricanes should be a widespread phenomena.”

Hurricanes occur in Earth’s lower atmosphere over warm bodies of water. When warm, moist air rises, it creates an area of low pressure near the surface that sucks in the surrounding air, causing extremely strong winds and creating clouds that lead to heavy rain.

Hurricanes have also been observed in the lower atmospheres of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, while enormous solar tornadoes have been seen in the atmosphere of the Sun. However, the existence of space hurricanes in the upper atmosphere of planets has not been detected before.

The space hurricane analysed by the team in Earth’s ionosphere was spinning in an anticlockwise direction, had multiple spiral arms, and lasted almost eight hours before gradually breaking down.

The team of scientists from China, the USA, Norway and the UK used observations made by four DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) satellites and a 3D magnetosphere modelling to produce the image. Their findings were published in Nature Communications.

[link to www.reading.ac.uk (secure)]

Oh. From March 1994. I thought this was from yesterday and was gonna say this was an omen from God, foretelling the miraculous second coming of Donald Trump on March 4th.

Damn.

OK, so he's right, but the University of Reading together with astrophysics professors from China, the USA, Norway and the UK are all wrong.

Yes, this is GLP.

Plasma doesn't exist retard

SolarWinds now where have I've heard that one before?

You really are an eloquent writer. When do you plan to publish your paper on plasma generated space storms?

Umm...how about all those thousands of satellites being put up into space, aka bunches of SPACE POLLUTION thrown there by good ole Elon?

Nahhh, couldn’t be that, could it?!

All of your contributions to this 27 year old article have PhD’s and are pid handsomely to lie on a worldwide scale.

They present no new discoveries nor do they provide any tangible or verifiable facts.

Only theories and speculation...

shut up hippy.

How many times have his rockets blown up?

Lol.

not as many times as your mom blew me up

wow you must be smart.

Dang, so you’re a necrophiliac?

shut up loser. put some deodorant on.

I’m not nearly as smart as you are stupid,

shut up