China’s low-latitude, long-range ionospheric radar (LARID) on Hainan Island has detected equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) above the Midway Islands and Egypt for the first time.

These anomalies occur in the ionosphere, where UV light creates ion layers, but sometimes irregularities form, disrupting communication signals.

LARID, with a detection range of nearly 6,000 miles, identified these bubbles during a solar storm in November 2023, Popular Mechanics has reported.

Unlike NASA’s satellite-based GOLD mission, LARID uses high-powered electromagnetic waves to track EPBs, offering new insights into these poorly understood space weather phenomena, which impact both science and potential military applications.

Written by B.C. Begley