Wind antics during the eclipse

2003/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Klima

In Sun eclipses, many people perceive that the wind blows, but so far there were no scientific explanations for this phenomenon.

However, during the eclipse observed in Europe and Western Asia on 11 August 1999, numerous studies were carried out, among which meteorological data were collected throughout the course of the eclipse. Once this data has been analyzed, the researchers have found that wind behavior varies during the eclipse. Over hundreds of kilometers the sunlight disappeared and as the temperature went down the wind changed. After the eclipse, the wind returned to the foreground.

However, 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.