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Study explains mysterious 'eclipse wind'
by Brooks Hays
Reading, England (UPI) Aug 23, 2016


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

When the moon blocks the sun's rays during a solar eclipse, onlookers often feel a sudden shift in the wind direction. The phenomenon is called an "eclipse wind," and for decades, scientists have struggled to explain why it happens.

Thanks to the National Eclipse Weather Experiment, astronomers and meteorologists are no longer in the dark.

To solve the mystery, a team of researchers from the University of Reading in England recruited several thousand citizen scientists to gather meteorological readings during last year's solar eclipse. The measurements showed the air at ground level quickly cools as the sun disappears behind the moon. Low-level winds also slacken.

Additional data from the Met Office and its roadside weather stations suggested the shift in wind direction is triggered by perturbations in the "boundary layer," the buffer of air dividing high-level winds from ground-level breezes.

"As the sun disappears behind the moon the ground suddenly cools, just like at sunset," Giles Harrison, a meteorology professor at Reading, explained in a news release. "This means warm air stops rising from the ground, causing a drop in wind speed and a shift in its direction, as the slowing of the air by the Earth's surface changes."

Harrison and his colleagues detailed their latest findings in two separate papers, both published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A.

"Our discovery was made possible thanks to data from the world's largest ever eclipse weather experiment combined with Met Office forecast data and measurement network observations," Harrison added. "We thank the thousands of fellow scientists around the country whose measurements contributed to this research."


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Solar and Lunar Eclipses at Skynightly






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Previous Report
ECLIPSES
NASA's science during the March 2016 total solar eclipse
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 04, 2016
As the moon slowly covers the face of the sun on the morning of March 9, 2016, in Indonesia, a team of NASA scientists will be anxiously awaiting the start of totality - because at that moment, their countdown clock begins. They plan to take 59 several-second exposures of the sun in just over three minutes, capturing data on the innermost parts of the sun's volatile, superhot atmosphere - ... read more


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