Hurricane Helene was a devastating storm, ripping through Florida and the East Coast of the United States. NASA is now reporting that it also creates waves elsewhere, namely in the upper atmosphere around our planet.
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00:00Hurricane Helene was a devastating storm, ripping through Florida and the east coast
00:08of the United States.
00:10Experts estimate the damages related to the tempest will add up to a staggering $30-47
00:15billion, with more than 230 people killed as a result of the Category 4 storm.
00:21However, NASA is now reporting that it also created waves elsewhere, namely in the upper
00:25atmosphere around our planet.
00:27According to readings from NASA's Atmospheric Waves Experiment, or AWE, an instrument mounted
00:32on the International Space Station which detects faint light released by mesospheric gas called
00:36airglow, 56 miles above our planet's surface they detected ripples in that light, revealing
00:41just how much terrestrial weather may impact space weather.
00:45These ripples reveal the movement of atmospheric gravity waves caused by oscillations below
00:49them.
00:50NASA says it's similar to what happens when you drop something into water, with ripples
00:53cascading from the central point of impact.
00:55The atmospheric ripples, however, are caused when air is forced upwards by topographical
01:00changes like mountains and hills.
01:02That air then drops down again due to gravity, where it then oscillates and creates these
01:06ripples.