With the help of the world's most powerful radar , Chinese scientists have discovered plasma bubbles appearing on both the Egyptian pyramids and the Midway Islands, almost at the same time, SCMP reported.
An equatorial plasma bubble is an unusual weather phenomenon in low latitudes, caused by the sudden disappearance of a large number of charged particles in the ionosphere - part of the Earth's upper atmosphere.
Like a bubble, these electron-depleted regions can cause confusion for GPS devices and can also disrupt satellite communications. And they can reach sizes of hundreds of kilometers in diameter.
But thanks to the Low-Latitude Long-Range Ionospheric Radar (LARID), built last year, China has become the first country in the world to be able to detect these plasma bubbles on radar.
On August 27, the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, posted on its website the results of an experiment to detect the largest-ever plasma bubble using radar.
These plasma bubbles – caused by a solar storm – appeared clearly on Chinese radar screens from November 4 to 6 last year, with the radar signals detectable as far as North Africa and the central Pacific.
By analyzing these signals, scientists not only observed the detailed formation of plasma bubbles, but also tracked their movements in real time.
Located on Hainan Island, the southern tip of China, the giant LARID radar has a detection range of 9,600 km – as far as Hawaii to the east or Libya to the west.
Operating in the 8-22MHz band, LARID consists of two sub-radar systems, facing east and west, each with 24 transceiver antennas.
According to the project team, LARID adopts an advanced digital phased array system, allowing real-time adjustment of detection frequency, range, scanning field and radar coding parameters based on actual needs.
Previously, operating a radar with a total detection range covering nearly half the Earth was considered impossible.
Initially, LARID's effective detection range was only 3,000 km. However, in less than half a year, the maximum detection range has tripled.
Plasma bubbles could have a significant impact on modern warfare and there has been a lot of related research being done by military forces around the world, including the US Navy.
However, due to the lack of long-term, large-scale observation facilities in the oceans, human understanding and early warning of these events remains quite limited.
Chinese scientists have proposed building three to four more LARID-like over-the-horizon radars in low-latitude regions around the globe.
This super radar network is expected to achieve seamless real-time monitoring of equatorial plasma bubbles worldwide.
