Air turbulence in the Earth’s thermosphere is governed by the same principles as those in the troposphere. Researchers at Kyushu University have made an intriguing discovery about the turbulence in the thermosphere – it shares the same physical laws as the wind in the lower atmosphere. Moreover, the wind in the thermosphere predominantly follows a cyclonic pattern, rotating counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
These findings unveil a groundbreaking unified principle for the Earth’s diverse environmental systems and hold the potential to enhance the accuracy of both Earth and space weather forecasts. At some point, we’ve all tuned in to catch the latest weather forecast, but the intricate research behind understanding how Earth’s air moves is undeniably complex. “At the fundamental level, we study the interplay of kinetic energy in the atmosphere at different sizes and scales; that energy is mostly in the form of wind and turbulence.
Over the decades, a massive amount of data has given us insight into how this energy flows and dissipates to affect the weather in the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere,” explains Professor Huixin Liu of Kyushu University’s Faculty of Science, who led the study. “My research focuses on the movements in the upper atmosphere, specifically the thermosphere, where we explore the corresponding laws governing the dynamics and energy flow in the region.” The thermosphere, .
