[ad_1]
Last August, the Lebanese capital, Beirut, witnessed a massive explosion at its seaport, which killed hundreds, injured and displaced thousands of the city’s inhabitants. Its vibrations were observed in distant European countries and its impact even affected the layers of the atmosphere. according to recent scientific research.
The explosion was so strong that it was detected at stations some 500 km from Beirut, as a result of the vibrations it caused throughout the area.
Research by researchers from India and Japan indicates that the vibrations reached the highest layer of the atmosphere, similar to how some natural disasters affect it.
During their work, the researchers measured electrical disturbances caused by the explosion in the ionosphere, known as the ionosphere, similar to the effect of volcanic eruptions.
According to a scientist at Japan’s Hokkaido University, Kosuke Heikki, “the explosion generated a wave that traveled southward in the ionosphere at a speed of approximately 0.8 kilometers per second.”
The ionosphere lies at an altitude of about 50 km from the earth’s surface and forms a “roof of the globe”, which stretches for hundreds of kilometers to the edge of outer space.
The team used during the investigation to monitor the movement of the microwaves on which the global navigation satellite system depends, on the day of the explosion, to determine the extent of the impact.
The scientists relied on the data to calculate changes in the distribution of electrons within the upper atmosphere, which helps detect unusual waves.
A comparison by the researchers revealed that the effect of the Beirut explosion on the ionosphere was somewhat more severe than the effect of the Asama volcano eruption in Japan in 2004.
