Physicists Reveal Secrets of Space Hurricanes

Newsweek

19 hours ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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New research has unveiled the awesome power of newly-discovered "space hurricanes."
In 2014, an unusual phenomenon appeared in space, miles above the North Pole. It looked like a hurricane you might see on Earth: a huge swirl with spiral arms and even an eye in the center, but made of charged particles and glowing with auroral light.
The space hurricane is a type of auroral event, like the northern lights, which are also accompanied by significant space weather events.
In the case of the August 2014 polar cap aurora phenomenon, satellites observed an auroral spot over 620 miles in diameter, which appeared to look like a cyclone, including multiple spiral arms moving in an anti-clockwise rotation.
Now, a detailed study of the event has describing the large-scale, cyclone-shaped aurora with a rotating magnetic structure—and a pattern of "electronic rain."
"Our study revealed that space hurricanes can trigger significant ionospheric irregularities, leading to strong phase scintillations in GNSS signals," researcher Zan-Yang Xing told Newsweek.
"Moreover, space hurricane appears to strengthen the localized current system, causing intense local geomagnetic disturbances. These findings help clarify their space weather impacts on near-Earth space environments."
The 2014 space hurricane observed by the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager onboard Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F16 and F17.
The 2014 space hurricane observed by the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager onboard Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F16 and F17.
Space Weather/ AGU
The study used multiple satellite and ground-based data sets to investigate the impact of ionospheric scintillation and geomagnetic disturbances, providing the first evidence of the impact of space hurricanes on the environment.
Chinese researchers have found that these space hurricanes usually form near magnetic poles in summertime, and the event in 2014 over the North Pole likely caused irregularities, including scintillation effects—flashing lights—on satellite signals, as well as local geomagnetic disturbances.
These hurricanes have the power to inject energy into the polar ionosphere, and the new study investigated the impact of this energy injection by analyzing the 2014 phenomenon.
It found that GPS signals experienced strong scintillations near the hurricane—likely caused by plasma irregularities—and local geomagnetic disturbances were likely related to special currents being driven upwards.
Schematic of the key observational findings and physical processes associated with the space hurricane event.
Schematic of the key observational findings and physical processes associated with the space hurricane event.
Space Weather/ AGU
One side of the space hurricane experienced a pronounced increase in electron density, which researchers believe was caused by ionospheric convection and particle precipitation, or electronic rain.
These findings have opened up new information on the space weather effects by space hurricanes, including that the space hurricane is likely driven by intense field-aligned currents from steady high-latitude lobe reconnection.
Dr Xing told Newsweek that they plan to investigate "more space hurricane events, aiming to refine the predictive models of their effects on space weather and improve the resilience of satellite-based systems."
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Reference
Lu, S., Xing, Z.-Y., Zhang, Q.-H., Zhang, Y.-L., Yang, H.-G., Oksavik, K., Lyons, L. R., Shiokawa, K., Wang, Y., Ma, Y.-Z., Wang, X.-Y., Xu, T., Sun, S.-J., & Zhang, D. (2025). Ionospheric Scintillation and Geomagnetic Disturbance Caused by Space Hurricanes. Space Weather, 23(7). https://doi.org/10.1029/2025SW004435