Surfer's Waves in Space Rush by Earth from the Sun

The universe overflows with repeating patterns-from the smallest cells to the largest galaxies. Now, scientists have taken a closer look at surfer's waves which occur not only on the ocean, but also in space.

In this case, the scientists examined waves that occur at the boundaries of near-Earth space. The researchers wanted to understand the details of what happens at those boundaries, since various events there can disturb our space environment. When strong enough, this space weather can interrupt our communications systems or electronics on board satellites.

"We have known before that Kelvin-Helmholtz waves exist at the boundaries of Earth's magnetic environment-but they were considered relatively rare and thought to only appear under specialized conditions," said Shiva Kavosi, one of the researchers, in a news release. "It turns out they can appear under any conditions and are much more prevalent than we thought. They're present 20 percent of the time."

The waves are actually a direct result of how our planet fits into the larger solar system. Planet Earth is a gigantic magnetic and its magnetic influence extends outward in a large bubble called a magnetosphere-not unlike a wind blowing over the surface of the ocean. During certain situations, particles and energy from the sun can breach the magnetosphere, crossing into near-Earth space. This influx is what causes the space weather events that can impact our technology.

In this latest study, the researchers spotted the frequency of the waves by using instrument data from two NASA spacecraft. The researchers measured solar wind about 30 to 60 minutes before it made contact with the Earth's atmosphere and used other measurements to determine when and where waves occurred.

Surprisingly, the researchers found that the waves appear under a wide variety of conditions. Both fast and slow solar winds with magnetic fields pointed in any direction were capable of producing these waves.

"The theory of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves is well-developed, but we don't have many observations," said Evan Thomas, one of the researchers, "These new observations show that the waves are happening more often than expected and are probably more important than we thought-but we still don't know all the details."

The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

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