In the early twentieth century the famous writer Edgar Burroughs could only dream of space travel. Thanks to his insatiable thirst for space and what it involves, the writer created a series of novels on the theme of colonization of the red planet. But could the famous Creator of “Tarzan” and “John Carter” to imagine that Mars can be a very dangerous place due to heavy storms raging on its surface? And what if violent fate of Mars repeat, is found by a human exoplanets?
How are the hurricanes?
In the modern sense, the term “hurricane” refers to the wind’s destructive power, which usually forms over large amounts of warm water. On Earth hurricanes occur mostly over tropical oceans, since its inception, a powerful stream of wind needs energy from evaporation of water and its condensation, which is followed by re-cooling air. Losing power-UPS, hurricane pretty quickly weakened after landfall, but often manages to cause some destruction in the coastal areas.
The effects of hurricane Michael, which happened in US In 2018
Despite the fact that hurricanes of our planet represent a well-studied phenomenon, researchers from MIT made an amazing discovery, proving that a powerful hurricane can happen in a much colder and drier conditions than previously thought. So, this picture we can see on Mars, where despite the lack of large water bodies, there are storms of a different type — dust.
Can hurricanes form in cold and dry conditions?
To explore how hurricanes can be generated when different from terrestrial conditions, the researchers used a computer model that simulates the occurrence of storms with pre-established data. Despite the fact that the earth’s winds over the ocean are formed, for tests, a team of scientists from MIT have set up the system of forecasting of hurricanes of a much more cold and dry environment, different from earth.
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Surprisingly, drastically changing weather conditions did not stop the formation of hurricanes. The temperature in the simulations ranged from -33° to +27°C, and found that even at the coldest temperature, storms can form much more frequently than in terrestrial conditions.
A real surprise for the scientists was the discovery of the “dead zone” in the middle of the temperature range. So it became clear that between -23° and -3°C the hurricanes can form at all. What was caused by such a phenomenon remains a mystery.
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In any case, research scientists from MIT can show that earth-like exoplanets may be much more windy in some places than previously assumed. This simple fact makes our planet truly unique place that breaks all the standard rules.