The International Space Station has detected something unknown in the atmosphere, but which could have unexpected consequences.
The International Space Station (ISS), permanently occupied by an international crew, has the mission of scientific research in the space environment. This program is led by NASA but the Russian, European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies also participate. In November 2023, the station installed a new measuring instrument: the Atmospheric Waves Experiment. This sensor is capable of studying atmospheric waves. Thanks to this, scientists made a surprising observation.
Last September, while Hurricane Helene was blowing over the United States, they detected atmospheric waves in the mesosphere, as reported by NASA in a press release. The mesosphere is a layer of the atmosphere located between 50 and 90 kilometers above the Earth. Temperatures there are very cold, around -100 degrees. If this layer is little studied, in 2021, it was still found that greenhouse gases had caused a shrinkage of the latter.
These recently observed waves formed in the air were indeed caused by the storm’s powerful winds and precipitation, according to the researchers. NASA then broadcast images of the movement of these waves, which are among the first made public by the device. This confirms that “the instrument has the sensitivity necessary to reveal the impacts of hurricanes on the Earth’s upper atmosphere.”
This observation, in fact, puts into perspective the repercussions of meteorological phenomena even in distant regions of the atmosphere. A link is thus established between terrestrial events and layers of the atmosphere. “This information helps us better understand how terrestrial weather can affect space weather,” summarizes NASA.
However, such waves are not without consequences. By altering the density of the air in the mesosphere, orbiting satellites can be disrupted, their trajectories being very sensitive. It can also hamper, even minimally, space equipment used for telecommunications or navigation. Thanks to the ISS instrument, scientists now hope to better anticipate these disturbances. By strengthening predictive models, it would become possible to develop adjustment strategies for satellites.