{"id":14232,"date":"2021-03-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/06-03-2021\/first-ever-space-hurricane-detected-over-the-north-pole\/"},"modified":"2021-03-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T00:00:00","slug":"first-ever-space-hurricane-detected-over-the-north-pole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/06-03-2021\/first-ever-space-hurricane-detected-over-the-north-pole","title":{"rendered":"First-ever &#8216;space hurricane&#8217; detected over the North Pole"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>In News &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For the first time, astronomers have detected a powerful, 600-mile-wide (1,000 kilometres) <strong>hurricane of plasma named space hurricane <\/strong>in <strong>Earth&#8217;s upper atmosphere<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Points &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The space hurricane was detected on August 20, 2014, <\/strong>swirling hundreds of miles above <strong>Earth&#8217;s magnetic North Pole.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The hurricane was invisible to the<strong> naked eye<\/strong> however, <strong>four weather satellites<\/strong> that passed over the <strong>North Pole detected a formation, not unlike a typical terrestrial hurricane<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Using a 3D model of the hurricane, the researchers hypothesized that the formation resulted from a c<strong>omplex interaction between incoming solar wind (high-speed gales of plasma periodically released by the sun<\/strong>) and <strong>the magnetic field over the North Pole.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u00a0The phenomenon was noticed during a retrospective analysis led by the researchers at Shandong University in China. <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The findings were published in Nature Communications in February this year.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What is Space Hurrincaene &#8216;?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A &#8216;space hurricane&#8217; is a <strong>swirling mass of plasma.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It rains <strong>electrons directly into Earth&#8217;s upper atmosphere instead of water.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Hurricanes often <strong>cause loss of life and property<\/strong> through<strong> high winds and flooding <\/strong>resulting from <strong>the coastal storm surge of the ocean and the torrential rains.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>They are characterised by a <strong>low-pressure centre (hurricane eye), strong winds<\/strong> and <strong>flow shears, and a spiral arrangement of towering clouds with heavy rains.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Significance <\/strong><strong>&#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The studies of <strong>space hurricane will help in understanding important <\/strong>space weather effects such as<strong> satellite drag, disturbances in high frequency (HF)<\/strong> radio <strong>communications, and errors in over-the-horizon radar location, satellite navigation and communication systems better.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Hurricanes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hurricanes are enormous storms<\/strong> that come with a<strong> rotating wind speed of 74 miles per<\/strong> hour.<\/li>\n<li>The rotating wind swirls across the<strong> warm water of the tropics and comes<\/strong> with <strong>terrifying force.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>They are one of the most violent <strong>storms on earth and formed over the warm ocean waters near the equator.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The term \u201c<strong>hurricane\u201d is usually used for the large storms that are formed over the Atlantic Ocean or the eastern Pacific Ocean<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The first hurricane every year gets a name starting with the l<strong>etter A, second with B, and so on.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Depending on where they occur,<strong> hurricanes may be called typhoons or cyclones.<\/strong> They are given many names in different regions of the world:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Typhoons:<\/strong> tropical cyclones are known as Typhoons in the China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hurricanes: <\/strong>In the West Indian islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tornados:<\/strong> In the Guinea lands of West Africa and southern USA.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Willy-willies<\/strong>: In north-western Australia and<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tropical Cyclones<\/strong>: In the Indian Ocean Region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Mechanism of its formation: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Low-Pressure Creation:<\/strong> When the <strong>warm, moist air rises upward<\/strong> from the surface of the ocean, it creates an area of low air p<strong>ressure below.<\/strong> When this happens, the air from the surrounding areas <strong>rushes to fill this place<\/strong>, eventually rising when it <strong>becomes warm and moist too.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>An eye forms in the centre<\/strong>. It is the <strong>calmest part of the cyclone.<\/strong> Before the wind reaches the <strong>centre it gets warmed up and rises upward<\/strong> and when the warm air rises and <strong>cools off, the moisture forms clouds<\/strong>. This system of <strong>clouds and winds continues to grow and spin.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>This disturbance is <strong>fuelled by the ocean\u2019s heat and the wate<\/strong>r that evaporates from its s<strong>urface and such storm systems rotate faster and faster.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Storms that <strong>form towards the north of the equator rotate counterclockwise<\/strong>, while those that form to the <strong>south spin clockwise because of the rotation of the Earth.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>A hurricane can last for more<strong> than 14 days.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Structure<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Eye<\/strong>&#8211; <strong>Hurricane winds blow<\/strong> in a <strong>counterclockwise spiral around the calm<\/strong>, roughly circular centre called the eye.\n<ul>\n<li>The eye is the <strong>warmest part of the storm<\/strong> and it is relatively <strong>calm, clear and there is little or no rain in this region.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Eyebal<\/strong>l- <strong>Surrounding the eye is the eyewall,<\/strong> a wall of thunderclouds.\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0The eyewall has the <strong>most rain and the strongest winds<\/strong> of the storm, gusting up to <strong>360 km\/h in severe storms.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The smaller <strong>the eye, the stronger the winds.<\/strong> The winds spiral in a c<strong>ounterclockwise direction into the storm\u2019s low-pressure centre<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spiral Rainbands<\/strong>&#8211;<strong> Long bands of rain clouds <\/strong>appear to<strong> spiral inward to the eyewall<\/strong> \u2014 these are called <strong>spiral rainbands.<\/strong> They contain thunderstorms and sometimes tornadoes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/714673628888404100_image.png\" style=\"height:189px; margin-left:150px; margin-right:150px; width:300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The intensity of Hurricane:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 rating based on a hurricane\u2019s sustained wind speed. This scale estimates potential property damage.<\/li>\n<li>Category Sustained Winds Types of Damage Due to Hurricane Winds:\n<ul>\n<li>119-153 km\/h\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some substantial damage<\/li>\n<li>154-177 km\/h\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Extensive damage<\/li>\n<li>(major) 178-208 km\/h\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Devastating damage will occur<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0(major) 209-251 km\/h\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Catastrophic damage will occur<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0(major) 252 km\/h or high\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Catastrophic damage will occur<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How they are named?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Each year, tropical storms are named in alphabetical order. The names come from a list of names for that year. There are six lists of names. Lists are reused every six years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/space-hurricane-over-north-pole.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source :LS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 In News &#8211; For the first time, astronomers have detected a powerful, 600-mile-wide (1,000 kilometres) hurricane of plasma named space hurricane in Earth&#8217;s upper atmosphere. Key Points &#8211; The space hurricane was detected on August 20, 2014, swirling hundreds of miles above Earth&#8217;s magnetic North Pole. The hurricane was invisible to the naked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/7770616current-affairs (1).jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}