Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogebaum. Here, high above the Earth's north pole, solar winds whipped through the ion sphere in a gargantuan storm that rained electric precipitation. The entire thing happened over several hours, and satellites passing over the area were disrupted by the unexpected changes in the geomagnetic field. Meanwhile, the world moved on below, unaware of the tumultuous events occurring at the
edge of space. While this sounds like a great setup for your next science fiction binge on Netflix, it's a real phenomenon, a space hurricane. After hypothesizing that such high atmospheric meteorology might be possible, scientists now have proof that hurricanes occur in different levels of Earth's atmosphere. As reported in the journal Nature Communications in February, scientists observed and documented the first phenomenon of its kind, which they dubbed
a space hurricane. But what exactly is that the space hurricanes have likely happened before in the history of our planet and will likely occur again, so it's helpful to know what causes them and how similar they are to the lower atmosphere hurricanes that we know more about. According to the research published by a team of international scientists, the first documented space hurricane occurred on August high in
the upper atmosphere. A spiral of plasma stretching more than six hundred miles that's a thousand kilometers across, swirled above the magnetic north pole for nearly eight hours while it was invisible. To humanize weather, satellites were affected and tipped researchers off to the activity. It was observed way up in the ionosphere was so called because it's the part of Earth's atmosphere that's ionized, a meaning it contains electrically
charged particles. The ionosphere stretches across a few of the outermost levels of Earth's atmosphere, and though its boundaries shift from day to day and season to season, it's generally from around fifty two four hundred miles up that's about eighty two six hundred and fifty kilometers. Before the article this episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke with Brian Latta, an acuather meteorologist who specializes in astronomy and
space coverage. He explained, like many space weather phenomena, charged particles from the Sun interacted with Earth's magnetic field to spark the space hurricane. This phenomenon is likely being called a hurricane due to the way it spins, similar to a tropical cyclone, since it was observed over the North Pole. I was a little surprised that they didn't nickname it a space vortex to match the viral weather term polar vortex. So, considering that they were given a shared name, space and
Earth hurricanes must be similar right. In fact, they do have some aspects in common, but they're also quite different. In addition to their shape, both have an eye at the center and arm bands of storm activity. Space and Earth hurricanes are similar in another important way. They both have precipitation. Latta said. Hurricanes that we are familiar with have liquid precipitation rain, while space hurricanes have electric precipitation
that can create stunning aurora. However, the aurora caused by the specific space hurricane may have gone unnoticed by people on the ground as it occurred during the summer in the northern Hemisphere, the worst time of year to look for aurora, since the days far outlast the nights. Here's hoping the next one will occur during the winter months so that we can enjoy the show. The biggest difference between the two types of hurricanes is the altitudes at
which they occur. As I said earlier, space hurricanes can be found dozens or hundreds of miles up in the ionosphere. In contrast, normal hurrican haynes occur in the troposphere. That's where we live. It's the layer of Earth's atmosphere that stretches from the ground to just around five to nine miles up. That's around eight to fourteen kilometers. The range happens because different parts of the troposphere are thicker or thinner depending on where in the world you are. It's
the thinnest at the polls. So the space hurricane was, you know, a lot closer to space. It was also huge compared to an Earth hurricane, at more than six hundred miles wide. That's roughly twice the average diameter of hurricanes that happened in the troposphere. So what caused the space hurricane. The scientists aren't quite sure yet, but there
are some theories. The main one concerns the electromagnetic conditions in the Sun was at the maximum of its most recent eleven year cycle in August was a time of quote low solar and otherwise low geomagnetic activity. According to the research published in Nature Communications, this low activity in the ionosphere was likely similar to hurricane conducive conditions that
helped create hurricanes on Earth. Hous to Works also spoke with ACU weather senior meteorologist and astronomy blogger David Samuel. He said, it seems like it occurs when conditions are quiet. There was very little geomagnetic activity and solar wind was low. This reminds me of hurricanes. Hurricanes need light winds aloft, so thunderstorms can form and rotate around a center without the strong winds aloft pulling them away from the center.
Once the center gets established, the thunderstorms become stronger and stronger and thus spin faster around the center until strong winds aloft pull them apart. So it's likely that the right combination of high atmospheric conditions came together to allow the space hurricane to form and to dissipate when those conditions changed. But Earth hurricanes can cause lack of damage,
should we fear space hurricanes. According to LATA, space hurricanes are mostly harmless, though it's possible we could experience the effect of one on Earth. He explained, if strong enough, a space hurricane could potentially cause some disruptions on the ground. If there are enough charged particles raining down from space, in addition to creating aurora, it could disrupt GPS signals,
radio waves, and in extreme cases, the power grid. However, if this event only happens over the polls, then the number of power outages would be limited based on the sparse population of the polar region. Having discovered this first one, scientists will undoubtedly be trying to determine where and how often space hurricanes occur, but it's likely that we don't need to have too much concern about them compared with
their earthly counterparts. While scientists can't be sure when the next space hurricane will occur, the next solar maximum will likely occur in July five. This may create similar conditions for another space hurricane. However, the sun cycles are flexible and scientists may not become aware of the next space hurricane until after it's already happened. Today's episode is based on the article scientists detected a space hurricane for the first time. What's That? On how Stuff Works dot Com,
written by Valerie Stymack. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts, it's my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.