The solar cycle is at one of the highest points of activity. Intense storms occur due to coronal mass ejection from our massive star, impacting every corner of our planetary system. The POTwith his Parker solar probewent through and survived one of these radiation storms and recorded a lot of phenomena that are pure gold for space science.
The videos of the Parker solar probe passing through the solar storm had surprised us in September of last year. This material was collected by the POT and after a meticulous analysis they found that something called occurs in these phenomena Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI)according to review Bio Bio Chile.
What is the KHI?
In terms we can all understand, this instability is the phenomenon that allows waves to occur in the oceans. That is, there are two fluids of different densities and they move at different speeds from one side to the other. So, that movement and interaction, when it happens in the water, generates waves.
It also occurs in the sky, with the interaction of air in the condensation process, which causes clouds.
Well, that same phenomenon occurred in a solar storm. Let's replace the water with particles from the Sun and the air winds with solar winds. The result is eddies, like those that occur in storms at sea, but in space with elements of radiation from our central star.
The team of scientists from the WISPR (Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe) instrument, in charge of detecting this phenomenon, is amazed at having captured KHI in a solar storm.
“We never anticipated that KHI structures could develop to scales large enough to be imaged in visible-light CME images in the heliosphere when we designed the instrument,” said Angelos Vourlidas, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), who operates WISPR, according to the aforementioned portal.
“The turbulence that gives rise to KHI plays a fundamental role in regulating the dynamics of CMEs flowing through the ambient solar wind. Therefore, understanding turbulence is key to achieving a deeper understanding of the evolution and kinematics of CMEs,” added another of the scientists who took part in the research.
Having detected this phenomenon is an unprecedented advance for space science. Now, they can study and predict the intensity of solar storms approaching Earth and thus be prepared for turbulence in satellite communication systems.