Would there be a link between the Covid-19 pandemic and lunar temperature ? In any case, scientists from the physics research laboratory in Ahmedabad, India, have carried out a amazing studywhich shows a drop in surface temperature the Moonour natural satellite, right during this pandemic historical. How to explain it?
8 to 10 degrees cooler during confinement!
These scientists analyzed data from temperatures noted between 2017 and 2023 by the probes from NASA placed in orbit around the Mooncalled Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). It collects temperatures at six points on the visible side of our satellite. Surprisingly, these researchers observed a drop in lunar surface temperatures during pandemic of Covid-19.
A diminution notably visible at night during the months of April and May 2020, a period corresponding to the first confinements applied across a large part of the planet to curb the Covid-19 epidemic. On average, 8 to 10 degrees would have been lost during this period, with a minimum recorded at -177°C at one of the six measurement sites.
While the pandemic paralyzed the Earth, its consequences would also have partly reached space! This drop in temperatures, considered “abnormal” by these scientists, swould therefore be explained directly by the Covid-19 pandemic, and more precisely by the sharp slowdown in human activities. What factors would allow this link to be confirmed?
A person responsible for reducing GHG emissions
The principle of this lunar cooling is simple. With lockdowns, limited human activities have emitted fewer greenhouse gase: less heat was therefore trapped in the atmosphere, and therefore less heat also escaped. It is this loss of heat at half-mast that would have allowed the Moon to cool down.
All the other factors analyzed by these scientists had no impact on lunar temperature readings, whether solar activity or seasonal flow variations. Their results are therefore solely due to confinements du Covid-19 : of the additional research will however be necessary to establish a certain causal link between these two events.
In the meantime, the fact that the drop in temperatures is observed on the visible side of the Moon supports the scientists’ hypothesis. This side (unlike the hidden side) is the most likely to be disturbed by terrestrial radiation.and studies have already proven that these radiations could influence the temperature of the lunar surface…
Article references:
How Covid-19 changed temperatures… on the Moon – Geo
Effect of COVID-19 global lockdown on our Moon – Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
