A New Type of Aurora Has Been Discovered by Citizen Scientists

A collaboration between physicists and citizen scientists has led to the discovery of a previously unknown course of Northern Lights . Dubbed “ the sand dune , ” the salient aurorean form is allow for new insights into Earth ’s upper atmosphere .

Newresearchpublished today in AGU Advances describes the auroral dunes , which appear as undulating , unripe - tinged waves in the night sky . The dunes are appearing in the upper atm and likely represent a previously nameless physical process . Physicist Minna Palmroth from the University of Helsinki and her fellow are the first to document this type of aurora , but the discovery would n’t have been potential without the help of citizen scientist .

This tarradiddle start in 2018 , when Palmroth was ready a democratic guide called Revontulibongarin opas , which is Finnish for “ a guide for aurora borealis watchers . ” Auroral forms come in various types , and each is connect with a specific set of physical procedure that happen along the edge of quad . Palmroth ’s book project , which arose from her work with Northern Lights enthusiasts on Facebook , described several aurorean form , but her readers remark that a sure type of aurora envision in the book had n’t been categorise . They knight it “ dunes . ”

The auroral “dunes,” which appear as undulating green waves.

The auroral “dunes,” which appear as undulating green waves.Image: (Kari Saari)

“ I look at the pictures and thought , maybe we need to make a new class , because they did n’t seem like anything I had seen before , ” Palmroth told Gizmodo . “ Then we started to enquire this together , using the citizen pictures as science datum , and since we had n’t done that sort of thing before , we had to develop new method . ”

Indeed , new auroral forms are n’t discovered every day . An atmospheric effect known as STEVE made headlines latterly , but this strange Light Within show istechnically not an auroraand is instead an optical phenomenonstill in need of an explanation .

https://gizmodo.com/mysterious-aurora-like-lights-above-canada-continue-to-1828493333

Image:

In this diagram, a zigzagging gravity wave (white) rises up and bends in the upper atmosphere, causing a surge in the density of oxygen atoms in the mesosphere. Incoming particles from the Sun excite these atoms, causing them to glow.Image: (Jani Närhi)

Auroras , on the other hand , go on when solar particles interact with gases in Earth ’s ionosphere ( the part of our major planet ’s atmosphere that ’s ionized by solar and cosmic radiation ) . Nitrogen reacts by glowing dreary and purple , while oxygen gives off immature and red Inner Light . In the case of the fresh documented dunes , these monochromatic auroras are believed to be glowing waves of atomic number 8 molecule , which are being come to by stream of electrons , according to the fresh research .

luckily , the dunes appear in the night sky on October 7 , 2018 — just days before Palmroth was localise to issue her Holy Scripture . amateurish observers catch multiple photos of the same dunes at the same time from different fix in Finland . characterization taken by the citizen scientists and others gather elsewhere at different times subsequently formed the “ gumption ” of the new study , as the authors wrote in the newspaper publisher .

By using background stars as reference points , Palmroth and her workfellow were able to triangulate the position of the dunes from two locations in Finland that are divide by 172 kilometers ( 107 miles ) . Results showed that the dunes were appearing at an height of 100 kilometers ( 60 nautical mile ) . For the event on October 7 , 2018 , the distance between each aurorean ripple , or wavelength , was measured at around 45 kilometers ( 28 miles ) , based on the coming into court of six consecutive sand dune .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

Interestingly , the dune were spot within the mesosphere and slightly below the neighborhood immediately above it , love as the mesopause . This part of the standard atmosphere , where our planet ’s ambiance intersects with space , is notoriously difficult to learn , lead scientists to refer to it as the “ ignorosphere . ”

“ The ignorosphere is too gamey for microwave radar and balloons , but too low for satellites , therefore there are very few measurements of it altogether — mostly from Eruca vesicaria sativa , ” Palmroth told Gizmodo .

The dunes are likely forming due to a rush in oxygen density in this part of the sky . The researchers assign this to an issue called a “ mesospheric bore , ” which can be compared to a tidal bore , when a tide travels up a river . More technically , mesospheric bores are “ a eccentric of gravity wave disturbance that distribute through air , sometimes creating gurgle patterns in high - height clouds that can be seen with the naked eye,”accordingto the American Geophysical Union .

William Duplessie

As Palmroth explained to Gizmodo , more auroral lights find in place where the atomic number 8 is dense , and fewer aurorean lights happen where the atomic number 8 is scarce . The bore waves are causing atomic number 8 density to increase and minify , “ and that ’s why we see the dunes , ” she sound out .

This is significant because the researchers are able to “ see ” the bore by virtue of the aurora , which has never been done before . “ By investigating the dunes , we can get information about the bore wave , ” said Palmroth . What ’s more , the presence of these mesospheric bores in the ignorosphere may give scientist a young room of investigating this region , she added .

Looking onward , Palmroth would care to gather more observations of the dune to permit for further investigation . Once again , the efforts of recreational skywatchers would be welcomed .

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