California

Chinese scientists have detected plasma bubbles hovering over the Great Pyramids of Giza. The mysterious floating structures were spotted by a high-tech radar and spread over a breadth of 9,500 kilometres. 

Advertisment

Called equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs), they are hot pockets of superheated gas that form at low latitudes. They are known to affect Earth’s connection to space and are important for communication and navigation, IFL Science reported.

A sudden loss of charged particles in the ionosphere - part of the Earth’s upper atmosphere - triggers their formation. They look like a bubble and can negatively affect GPS positioning devices and interrupt satellite communications.

IFL Science reports that several of these form over the region every year. So their presence over the pyramids is not something to be scared of. However, the biggest thing this time is that they have been spotted from China. 

Advertisment

Usually, the bubbles are seen from space, but this time the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported their Low lAtitude long Range Ionospheric raDar, (LARID) detected them from the island of Hainan, in the South China Sea.

China is now the first country to detect the bubbles on a radar. 

The LARID is a radar system made to keep a check on the irregularities created by plasma bubbles. Radar can be used to reflect against the plasma of the ionosphere. 

Advertisment

The powerful radar

On August 27, the Institute of Geology and Geophysics published the test results of the largest radar detection of plasma bubbles to date.

Also Read: China's secret spaceplane is back after 268 days and placing secret objects in orbit

The plasma bubbles were the result of a solar storm and the paper said that they appeared clearly on its radar screens from November 4-6, 2023. Hints of them were detected from as far as North Africa and the Central Pacific. 

Experts say that spotting these bubbles in real-time from China is outstanding. The researchers in the study suggest that monitoring such events can be revolutionised by creating a network of such radars.

“The results provide meaningful insight for building a low latitude OTH [Over-The-Horizon] radar network in future, that consists of three to four OTH radars [and] could have the capability to obtain global EPBs in real-time,” the authors wrote in the paper.

LARID's observations are groundbreaking because it has done what no other radars can. Since the Earth is round, it is not possible for regular radars to see below the horizon. But the high-power electromagnetic waves emitted into the air by China's radar bounce continuously between the ionosphere and the ground, moving massive distances in the process.