The storm behind the science
Hurricane Simon has been tearing through the Eastern Pacific this season, and it brought some serious chaos to Mexico’s coast. On October 11, the Category 4 storm was sitting about 30 miles off the shore near Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta with winds hitting a wild 130 mph. While the Sierra Madre mountains helped buffer the impact, coastal towns still dealt with heavy flooding and the major threat of mudslides.
Cosmic ripples
Beyond the wind and rain, NASA satellites caught a highkey wild phenomenon. As the storm's core powered up, it sent 'atmospheric gravity waves' rippling way up into the stratosphere and mesosphere.
Think of it like this: the storm's intense heat and upward-rushing air act like a pebble dropped in a pond, but instead of water, these waves move through the air. These disturbances can be tricky to spot, but because it was dark and the moon wasn't out to mess with the visibility, the satellite's sensors were able to pick up the faint patterns of these ripples in Earth's natural airglow.
Why it matters
These observations are a huge W for climate science. While meteorologists are currently struggling with 'very low confidence' regarding Simon's path and intensity, these gravity waves give researchers a rare, deep look at how hurricanes interact with the very top of our atmosphere, helping us understand the inner workings of massive weather events in real-time.
