Atmospheric and Insect Responses to a Total Solar Eclipse
Réactions de l'atmosphère et des insectes à une éclipse solaire totale
Wurman, Joshua ; Kosiba, Karen ; Robinson, Paul
Année de publication
2025
How do the atmosphere and airborne insects respond to the abrupt cessation and restoration of sunlight during a total eclipse? The Flexible Array of Radars and Mesonets (FARM), including three mobile Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radars, mobile mesonets, Pod weather stations, and an upper-air sounding system, was deployed as an unprecedentedly dense observing network in the path of totality of the 21 August 2017 eclipse that spanned the United States from its Pacific to Atlantic coasts. This was the first targeted dual-polarization radar, multiple-Doppler, and micronet study of the impacts of totality on meteorology and insect behavior. The study area was chosen to be completely sunny, nearly devoid of trees, with homogeneous, nonforested land use, and very flat. This resulted in as near an ideal observational environment as realistically attainable to observe the effects of a total solar eclipse absent the confounding effects of variable cloud shading, terrain, and land use. Rapid and substantial changes in the boundary layer and propagation of a prominent radar fine line associated with a posttotality wind shift mechanism different than previously hypothesized were observed. Profound and rapid changes in airborne insect behavior were documented, including descent and then reascent during the minutes immediately surrounding totality, with implications related to solar-related insect navigational mechanisms and behavior.</div>
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