NASA has revealed that Hurricane Helene which devastated Florida’s Gulf Coast in September, was so powerful it created atmospheric gravity waves ripples in Earth’s upper atmosphere. The waves, recorded by NASA’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) on the International Space Station (ISS), formed about 90 kilometers above the ground. The AWE captured these waves through airglow a faint infrared light emitted by gases in the mesosphere which appears in colorful bands of red, yellow, and blue.
“Like rings in water after a stone is dropped, circular waves from Helene are seen billowing westward from Florida’s northwest coast,” explains Ludger Scherliess, AWE’s principal investigator at Utah State University.
A Category 4 storm, Helene packed winds of up to 225 km/hr and tragically claimed over 230 lives, causing billions in property damage. Shortly afterward, Florida endured yet another major hurricane, Milton, highlighting the increased activity during this hurricane season.
What Are Atmospheric Gravity Waves?
Atmospheric gravity waves form when air is disrupted, similar to ripples in water. Hurricanes, thunderstorms, wind bursts, tornadoes, and even tsunamis can create these waves. As the air rises, gravity pulls it back down, causing it to oscillate and form a ripple effect across the atmosphere.
Different from Gravitational Waves
While atmospheric gravity waves are ripples in the atmosphere, gravitational waves are distortions in space-time itself, caused by cosmic events like black hole collisions.
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