Shear layers in solar winds affect Earth's magnetosphere
Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - 16:00
in Astronomy & Space
Human society is increasingly reliant on technology that can be disrupted by space weather. For instance, geomagnetic storms can cause high-latitude air flights to be rerouted, costing as much as $100,000 per flight; induce errors of up to 46 meters (151 feet) in GPS systems; and affect satellites and the International Space Station. Space weather is determined by how the solar wind, a stream of hot plasma from the Sun, interacts with Earths magnetic field. In studying space weather, scientists have largely neglected the fact that the solar wind contains layers of very strong velocity shear. Scientists understand very little about how these wind shears affect space weather.