A space hurricane was first detected

For the first time, a hurricane was detected in the upper levels of the Earth's atmosphere, confirming the existence of space hurricanes and shedding light on the relationship between planets and space.

The unprecedented satellite observations in August 2014 were only recently analyzed by University of Reading scientists as part of the team at Shandong University in China, who were surprised to see the results. The satellites detected a huge spiral flow of plasma that reached up to the magnetosphere and lasted for hours before dissolving.

The space hurricane appeared over the North Pole and had a diameter of 1,000 kilometers. It started at an altitude of 110 km and reached 860 km, consisted of a creature with multiple spiral ends and moved in a counterclockwise direction, with speeds of up to 2,100 meters per second. But like Earth Hurricanes, its center was quiet, with no activity.

The supply of electrons to the ionosphere was so great that a huge saddle formed under the hurricane. The phenomenon lasted about eight hours.

Hurricanes have been observed in low atmospheres on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, while we have also observed huge siphons in the Sun's atmosphere. However, the existence of space hurricanes in the upper atmosphere had not been detected until now.

The research was published in Nature Communications.