With the concealment of the Sun rises the wind

2002/11/27 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Klima
• Astronomia

During Sun eclipses, many people perceive that the wind fades away. However, scientists did not pay attention to this phenomenon and so far did not seek scientific explanations.

The eclipse seen in Europe and Western Asia on 11 August 1999 had a great impact and scientists took the opportunity to study the eclipse. Researchers from the UK put meteorological data tools all the way through the eclipse. The data obtained were contrasted with those of the British urban Reading, located next to the path traveled by the eclipse of Reading.

Research has shown that wind behavior changes during the eclipse. Over hundreds of kilometers the sunlight disappeared and as the temperature dropped, the wind changed, even in areas covered by clouds. For example, Reading was cloudy and when temperatures dropped a kind of cyclone was created.

During the entire journey through the eclipse changes were detected in the behavior of the wind and, after the eclipse, returned to the first. In contrast, changes in atmospheric pressure were noted hours after the eclipse. It seems that the upper layers of the atmosphere cooled down by the eclipse and slowly expanded to the surface of the Earth.

The research has been published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society.

Photo: Jerry Lodrigus