A multinational team of scientists have for the first time observed an almost 1,000 km-wide swirling vortex of plasma that rained electrons down on the Earth from the stratosphere.
The team, which included researchers from China, Norway, the UK and the US, were searching through archives of satellite images from years ago when they caught the phenomenon, which had been recorded right over the North Pole.
According to NBC News, the phenomenon has been dubbed a "space hurricane" due to the behavior of the plasma. Larry Lyons of UCLA iterated:
"You could see flows of plasma going around, which were like the winds of the space hurricane. These flows were strongest at the edge and decreased as you moved toward the eye in the center, before picking up again on the other side, just like the flow of air in a regular hurricane."
"It really wasn't expected. It wasn't even theoretically known."
"We had various instruments measuring various things at different times, so it wasn't like we took a big picture and could see it. The really fun thing about this type of work is that we had to piece together bits of information and put together the whole picture"
These "space hurricanes" are propelled across the solar system from their origin in the sun by solar winds, and are believed to be responsible for phenomena such as the aurora borealis.
"People who are interested in satellite communications and GPS signals are going to care a lot," commented Lyons, referring to the fact that these electron storms have the potential to interfere with electronics, especially with wireless transmissions.
Lyons concluded by saying that further research will now be necessary to find out more about these phenomena.
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