An Atmospheric Phenomenon was Named STEVE

Have you ever traveled to a latitude where you can view the Northern Lights and witnessed an arc of purple light slicing through the sky? Then you witnessed Steve. Photographer Chris Ratzlaff gave the unusual meteorological phenomena the moniker STEVE, which stands for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement. He got the idea from the animated film Over the Hedge.

Steve is a purple and green light ribbon in the sky that is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that was given that name in late 2016 by aurora observers in Alberta, Canada. A 25 km (16 mi) wide ribbon of hot plasma, flowing at a speed of 6 km (3.7 mi) per second (compared to 10 m/s (33 ft/s) outside the ribbon) at an altitude of 450 km (280 mi), is believed to be the source of STEVE, according to analysis of satellite data from the European Space Agency's Swarm mission. Although the phenomenon is not uncommon, it has not yet been researched.

For decades, STEVE had been captured on camera, but no one knew what it was. A proton arc was suggested, but that didn't fit either. STEVE seemed appropriate because it is used by the characters to denote "something unknown" in the film. The creation of a backronym has shown to be successful thus far.