*Phenomena do change weather as falling temperatures alter speed, direction of wind
Nigerians cannot wait any longer to witness another eclipse, ten years after the last one on March 29, 2006.
Although this time, on Thursday September 1, 2016, it is going to be
an annular eclipse unlike the event in 2006, which was a total eclipse,
Nigerians are set to experience another spectacle.
Indeed, Nigeria is set for an annular solar eclipse that will be visible
all over the country with different degrees of totality on September 1,
2016, even as astronomers in the United States (U.S.) prepare for a
spectacle of solar eclipse on August 21, 2017.
Also, researchers have explained why solar eclipses are so rare and
how solar eclipses do change weather as falling temperatures alter speed
and direction of wind.
Until now, solar eclipses have often been seen as a sign of an
impending apocalypse or the anger of the gods, but is believed that the
real reason for the erratic occurrence of solar eclipses on Earth may
finally have been solved.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the
Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a
viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent
diameter is larger than the Sun’s, blocking all direct sunlight, turning
day into darkness.
Annular solar eclipses have a “ring of fire” and occurs when the Moon
moves in front of the Sun but does not cover the Sun’s discs
completely.
Researchers recently unravelled the mystery of why the Moon has a
strange orbital tilt, which causes it to pass between Earth and the Sun
to cause an eclipse only occasionally.
They claim the Moon was jostled into its current position through a
series of close encounters with large lumps of debris left over from the
formation of the inner planets 4.5 billion years ago.
The results were published in a special edition of the world’s oldest
scientific publication Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
A.
It is published 301 years after Edmund Halley reported sensing the
chill and damp that accompanied a solar eclipse in 1715 in the same
journal.
Meanwhile, the satellites of most other planets tend to orbit in a path that is in line with the parent planet’s equator.
If the Moon orbited Earth in a similar way, humans would likely
experience monthly solar eclipses as it passes between the Earth and the
sun.
However, the moon orbits at an angle of 5 degrees off the Earth’s own
orbital plane around the sun and spins on an axis that is actually
tilted towards Earth.
This results in far less regular solar eclipses.
Using data from several networks of sensors, weather stations,
satellites, weather balloons and members of the public, scientists have
found the solar eclipse on March 20, 2015 last year led to changes in
the wind.
According to the report first published in DailyMailUK Online, the
temperatures across the United Kingdom (UK), where the study was
conducted and between 85 per cent and 97 per cent of the sun was
obscured, dropped by an average of 1.5°F (0.83°C).
In some places temperatures dropped by as much as five or six degrees.
Wind speeds fell by up to 2.3 mph (2 knots) while in areas with clear skies it changed direction by as much as 20 degrees.
It supports of what is known as 000‘eclipse wind’ and strange silences during solar eclipses.
Researchers also took the opportunity to assess how weather models
are able to predict changes in the weather during the sudden loss of
sunlight.
They also found that temperature drops during the eclipse appear to alter depending on the landscape.
Temperatures fell less in coastal regions and mountainous areas while
those locations covered in vegetation also had smaller drops in land
surface temperature.
However, according to Wikipedia, almost all actively visited areas in
the path of totality during the 2006 total solar eclipse had perfect
weather. Many observers reported an unusually beautiful eclipse, with
many or all effects visible, and a very nice corona despite proximity to
solar minimum.
credit:guardian
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