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The universe overflows with repeating patterns. From the smallest cells to the largest galaxies, scientists are often rewarded by observing similar patterns in vastly different places.
One such pattern is the iconic surfer's waves seen on the ocean – a series of curled hills moving steadily in one direction.
The shape has a simple cause. A fast fluid, say wind, moving past a slower one, say water, naturally creates this classic shape.
Named Kelvin-Helmholtz waves in the late 1800s after their discoverers, these waves have since been discovered all over the universe: in clouds, in the atmospheres of other planets, and on the sun.
Now two recently published papers highlight these shapely waves at the boundaries of near-Earth space.
Scientists want to understand the details of what happens at those boundaries because various events there can disturb our space environment.
When strong enough, this space weather can interrupt our communications systems or electronics on board satellites.
While scientists have occasionally spotted Kelvin-Helmholtz waves at this boundary before – giving scientists reason to wonder if they could enhance or enable such space weather – the new papers show the waves are much more common than expected.
The second paper presents a case study describing a previously unobserved way in which the waves can be initiated.
Together, the two sets of research suggest the waves may have more of an effect on our space environment than previously realized.
“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, a space scientist at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, and first author on one of the papers, which appeared in Nature Communications on May 11, 2015. “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 a direct result of the way our planet fits into the larger solar system. Planet Earth is a gigantic magnet and its magnetic influence extends outward in a large bubble called a magnetosphere. A constant flow of particles from the sun, called the solar wind, blows by the 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.
It is this influx that lies at the heart of the space weather events that can affect our technology closer to home.
To spot the frequency of the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, the team relied on instrument data from two NASA spacecraft: the Advanced Composition Explorer, or ACE, and the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms, or THEMIS.
ACE sits between Earth and the sun, measuring the solar wind about 30-60 minutes before it makes contact with Earth's magnetosphere. THEMIS orbits Earth, regularly moving in and out of the magnetosphere boundaries.
The researchers first established what the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves looked like with numerical simulations. They then used THEMIS observations to see when and where they occur.
Next, they correlated what they saw at the magnetopause boundaries with what ACE measured in the solar wind.
Previous theories suggested that the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves would only occur under very specific situations, such as when the solar wind's magnetic fields pointed in the same direction as Earth's.
Unexpectedly, the team found that the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves appeared under a wide variety of conditions.
Fast and slow winds and winds with magnetic fields pointed in any direction were all equally capable of producing these classic waves.
While the first paper compared Kelvin-Helmholtz waves to what was seen in the solar wind, the second team compared it to what was happening closer to Earth and provides a possible explanation as to why they may be observed so frequently.
The second paper was released online in the Journal of Geophysical Research on June 26 and was conducted by Brian Walsh at Boston University and Evan Thomas, a student at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, who is collocated at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Thomas works with data from a network of ground observatories known as SuperDARN, short for Super Dual Auroral Radar Network. These measure electric fields in near-Earth space. Walsh focuses on THEMIS data.
Using the combined space- and ground-based observations, the team detected Kelvin-Helmholtz waves propagating down the side of the magnetosphere's boundary.
THEMIS also spotted something else: Just before the waves began, a reservoir of charged gas around Earth – known as the plasmasphere – sent out a thin plume of plasma that traveled over 20,000 miles to contact the edges of the magnetosphere, depositing additional atoms into that crucial sun-Earth boundary.
Such plumes are fairly regular occurrences, but this is the first time they've been correlated with Kelvin-Helmholtz waves.
This case study suggests that the plume itself may trigger the waves, perhaps because it increases the density at the magnetosphere boundary, thus creating a fluid that is substantially more sluggish than the faster solar wind blowing past – the necessary conditions for a Kelvin-Helmholtz wave.
“The theory of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves is well-developed, but we don't have many observations,” said Thomas. “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.”
Understanding that crucial magnetospheric boundary and how it can let in solar material requires an understanding of the variety of processes that can affect and disrupt it.
“There are a lot of processes proposed for how material enters into the magnetosphere,” said Raeder. “And Kelvin-Helmholtz waves are one of them. Previously we thought the waves weren't happening often enough to have a strong effect, but if Kelvin-Helmholtz waves perturb the boundary and mix the solar material with near-Earth space, then that would be a way for the plasma from the solar wind to get into the magnetosphere.”
Whether or not Kelvin-Helmholtz waves are a strong trigger for space weather events near Earth, these crucial details help paint a more complete picture of our magnetosphere, ultimately helping us to protect our home planet.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Police officers arrested a Lakeport man early Saturday morning following a high speed motorcycle chase through the city.
Michael William Lockett, 51, was taken into custody on a felony charge of evading a peace officer with disregard for public safety and a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence, according to a report from Sgt. Michael Sobieraj of the Lakeport Police Department.
Just after 1:30 a.m. Saturday Sgt. Gary Basor attempted to stop Lockett, who Sobieraj said was traveling north on North Main Street at a high rate of speed after leaving the Clearlake Club bar on his Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Basor was behind the motorcycle with his emergency lights activated when Lockett turned on North High Street and then onto 20th Street, accelerating and continuing onto Hartley Street, Sobieraj said.
Sobieraj said Lockett continued west on Boggs Lane, traveling at speeds of more than 50 miles per hour in the residential area and failing to stop at stop signs along the way.
Two additional Lakeport Police officers joined the pursuit when the motorcycle came down 20th Street and turned south onto Hartley Street, Sobieraj said.
One officer attempted to stop the motorcycle by blocking its path on Hartley Street, but Sobieraj said Lockett failed to stop and continued past the officer.
Sobieraj said the motorcycle then traveled west on Clearlake Avenue and failed to negotiate the 90-degree turn at Pool Street, crashing over the embankment.
The officers went down the embankment, where they saw the wrecked motorcycle. Lockett fled on foot through the thick brush toward Mellor Drive, but officers caught up with him and detained him, Sobieraj said.
Medical staff from Lakeport Fire Protection District were summoned and later transported Lockett to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for medical clearance, according to Sobieraj.
During the investigation, Lockett admitted to having been drinking at the Clearlake Club and also to being under the influence of opioid painkillers, Sobieraj said.
Lockett – who works for the Lake County Community Development Department as its chief building official – was arrested and subsequently booked at the Lake County Jail, with bail set at $35,000, according to his booking sheet.
Jail records indicated he later posted the required portion of bail and was released.
Astronauts on the International Space Station give up many pleasures to take those giant leaps in the name of science.
They leave behind fresh vegetables, relaxing hot showers, warm sunshine, gently misting rain and much more.
One of the things astronauts say they miss most is a good cup of coffee.
How would YOU like to start your morning sucking freeze dried coffee through a straw from a sealed plastic bag?
Good news for astronauts: Morning Joe recently got an upgrade.
On April 20, SpaceX delivered to the space station a new microgravity coffee machine named “ISSpresso.”
Advances in the understanding of how fluids behave in low gravity is key to spacecraft operations. A long-awaited spin-off is an excellent cup of coffee in space.
“Our aerospace engineers have designed a coffeemaker that can function in microgravity conditions,” said David Avino of the Italian engineering firm Argotec. “Working together with the coffee company Lavazza and the Italian Space Agency, we have brought authentic Italian espresso onto the International Space Station.”
No one wants to drink Italian espresso from a plastic bag, however. What astronauts need is a “zero-G coffee cup.”
Fortunately, six of these wonders have been delivered to the space station as well.
Fluid physicist Mark Weislogel of Portland State University and IRPI LLC, who helped invent the cups, explains why they are necessary.
“If you tried to use a regular coffee mug, you might not get the coffee to your face,” said Weislogel. “It would be trapped at the bottom of the mug.”
In low-gravity environments like the space station, fluids tend to get “sticky.” Surface tension and capillary effects, which are overwhelmed by gravity on Earth, rule the day in space. As a result, coffee tends to cling to the walls of the cup.
“You could dip your tongue in the cup, and lick the hot coffee out. Or you could throw it out of the cup and suck down the scalding blob that forms in the air.”
No thanks.
The zero-G coffee cup solves these problems by 'going with the flow': putting the strange behavior of fluid in microgravity to work.
“Basically,” explained Weislogel, “the liquid piles up right at the lip of the cup and keeps flowing as you sip. It pours out by the combined effects of your mouth, the wetting conditions of the fluid, surface tension, and the particular shape of the cup.”
This oddball cup wouldn’t work on Earth, but it is a marvel in space.
Weislogel and colleagues learned how to make the coffee cup by conducting 'capillary flow' experiments onboard the station. For years they have been studying how fluids on the station climb the walls of their containers, turn corners, and perform other maneuvers that defy Earthly intuition.
“It’s not all about the coffee,” he said. “We need to understand how fluids behave in any container.”
The operation of many critical space station systems – air conditioning, refrigerators, toilets, cryogenic fuel tanks, medical treatments, the water supply, and everything else that involves liquids-- depends on the ebb and flow of fluids.
“These systems must work without gravity if they are to be used on the International Space Station – or on a spaceship en route to Mars,” he added.
Compared to those other systems, “coffee is not in the critical path of operations,” said Weislogel.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Authorities are continuing their efforts to determine the circumstances behind a man's death on the side of Highway 20 from an apparent hit-and-run crash on Monday night.
On Friday Officer Kory Reynolds of the California Highway Patrol reported that the man who died in the incident has still not been positively identified.
Firefighters, CHP and sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the area of Highway 20 west of Saratoga Springs just after 9:30 p.m. Monday on the report of a possible pedestrian down on the south shoulder of the highway, Reynolds said.
Officers arriving on the scene determined the man was dead, according to Reynolds.
On Thursday, the CHP's Clear Lake Area office had a representative at the man's autopsy, Reynolds said.
He said the autopsy found that the man's cause of death was blunt force trauma caused by a motor vehicle collision.
The CHP and the Lake County Sheriff's Office have started a joint investigation into the incident due to the lack of physical evidence at the scene, Reynolds said.
Authorities have said they also are trying to identify the vehicle that hit the man, which had left the scene by the time officers and deputies arrived.
Reynolds said the CHP is vigorously investigating the crash and is asking anyone with any information please contact the Clear Lake Area office at 707-279-0103.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Rain and cool weather that visited much of Lake County this week was a welcome relief from the normally hot July weather, but the change in conditions has delayed a highway repair project.
Caltrans said Friday that pavement repairs on Highway 29 from Kelseyville to Lakeport have been pushed back due to the rains.
The work is part of the $5 million Lake 29 Pavement Overlay Project, which is being carried out by Ghilotti Brothers.
The overlay project covers a 5-mile stretch from just east of Cruickshank Road in Kelseyville to just short of the Highway 175 and Highway 29 intersection in Lakeport, as Lake County News has reported.
Caltrans said work this week had to be canceled, and most work has been canceled for the week of July 12. Work is anticipated to resume the evening of July 19.
When work gets back under way, the top layer of asphalt will be ground off in preparation for paving the week of July 26, Caltrans said.
Nighttime work hours will continue to be 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., Sunday through Friday, and motorists should anticipate 15-minute delays, according to Caltrans.
To follow the progress of this project and others in Caltrans District 1, “like” Caltrans on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CaltransD1 .
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Winery Association (LCWA) has scheduled the dates for the 2016 Lake County Wine Adventure for May 20, 21 and 22.
A red and white theme for the event will build on the region’s reputation for Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.
“We had a lot of discussion before changing the date from the last weekend in July to the third weekend in May for 2015,” said association Director Terry Dereniuk. “In the end, the prospect of cooler weather and Lake County’s beautiful spring scenery won out and the event was a huge success. We will be fleshing out our plans over the summer or the 2016 celebration to be ready for ticket sales during the Give the Gift of Wine holiday open house in December.”
Attendance at the 2015 Wine Adventure eclipsed the prior year, bringing out over 1,300 people to enjoy the fun.
This year, the Castle Speakeasy was added to the weekend. The gala evening featured wines poured by more than a dozen Lake County wineries at the Marymount Castle.
Twenty-six wineries opened their doors to welcome passport holders on Saturday and Sunday with themed events, wine and food pairings, barrel tastings, music, and more.
This year’s passport attendees got a chance to vote in the “Best” winery contest during the 2015 Wine Adventure.
This contest was started in 2014 as a way to promote great hospitality and recognize the hard work that goes into making Wine Adventure a success.
Wine Adventure participants get to vote for their favorite winery in three categories: best food and wine; best hospitality; best overall experience.
Attendee comments like “the owner met us at the front entrance” and “super friendly” proved that the efforts were worth the work and appreciated.
Cache Creek Vineyards took first place in all three categories with their Reggae and Rosé theme.
Guests were invited to taste Cache Creek’s Gold Medal Rosé paired with Jamaican jerk chicken and grilled pineapple. The Street Urchinz Band took the stage on Saturday, proving that “This is da’ place to be.”
“I was so excited to receive the news. I'm so glad that we provided tourist and residents an amazing experience,” said Cache Creek Event and Marketing Coordinator Ari Lopez.
Second place honors went to the team at Six Sigma Ranch with a fiesta theme and mustache necklaces.
Chef Mark Linback created the menu with ceviche, chile verde, and albondigas meatballs made with meat from Six Sigma Ranch and of course plenty of chips and salsa. Music by Austin and Owens Flamenco guitarists added to the fiesta vibe.
Third place honors for 2015 were shared by several wineries. Best food and wine went to Gregory Graham. Fults Family won the best hospitality vote. The best overall experience vote resulted in a three-way tie between Brassfield Estate, Gregory Graham and Wildhurst Vineyards.
Upcoming events for LCWA include the 2015 People’s Choice Wine Tasting and Concert at Moore Family Winery on July 25.
The association will also have a wine by the glass booth at the Pear Festival offering visitors a chance to sample Lake County wines.
The Give the Gift of Wine holiday open house will be held the first weekend in December, offering shoppers a chance to pick up wine and other gifts for the holidays.
For more information, visit www.lakecountywineries.org .
LCWA works to promote the wines of Lake County’s high elevation region. Membership is open to wineries, winegrape growers, and individuals or businesses interested in promoting the Lake County wine industry.
For more information about upcoming events, sponsorship, or membership opportunities, call 707-357-5237 or visit www.lakecountywineries.org .