Space hurricanes can disrupt GPS systems

There's an eye in the sky — a hurricane eye, that is. High above the North Pole, a cyclone of charged particles can form and cause turbulence in the Earth's geomagnetic field. These storms lead to beautiful lights in the sky, but they can also affect infrastructure in Earth's orbit, as well as navigation systems. And space hurricanes occur more often than previously thought.

Particle pinwheels

Space hurricanes are similar to their terrestrial counterparts, but instead of heavy rains and wind, "electromagnetic tempests are made of plasma, charged particles whipped into motion by Earth's magnetic field," said Space.com . They are "created by an unusually large and rapid transfer of solar wind energy and charged particles into the Earth's upper atmosphere," said IFL Science . Th