What was claimed
A satellite image shows energy waves emanating from Antarctica.
Our verdict
False. The waves appeared following a technical glitch.
AAP FACTCHECK - A satellite image of Australia does not depict mysterious energy waves radiating from Antarctica, despite claims online.
The wave-like lines on the image were caused by a technical error on a Japanese satellite.
There is no evidence of the waves on other satellites covering the same region at the same time.
“GIANT ENERGY WAVES MOVING NORTH,” one user wrote in a Facebook post.
“A massive pulse appears to be radiating from Antarctica, spanning more than 6,000 miles toward Australia.”
“Whatever’s generating this… it’s powerful”.
An image in the post shows a satellite view of Australia, with white, curved waves that appear to radiate or pulse northward.
A caption at the bottom of the image states "AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY 12 OCT 25 05:30 UTC".
The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed that the image was taken by the Himawari-9 geostationary satellite, operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
"The Bureau of Meteorology is aware of issues that impacted the Himawari-9 satellite on 12-13 October 2025," a spokesperson told AAP FactCheck.
A JMA statement said it had switched to observing Himawari-8 on October 11, 2025, due to an anomaly in Himawari-9's satellite image data.
"We apologize for any inconvenience," it said.
The Himawari-9 outage was also noted by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
There is also no evidence of wave-like lines in images of the region captured by other satellites on October 11 or 12, 2025, such as the Korea Meteorological Administration's Geo-Kompsat-2A.
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