The underlying physical process that creates striking “breaking wave” cloud patterns in our atmosphere also frequently opens the gates to high-energy solar wind plasma that perturbs Earth’s magnetic field, or magnetosphere, which protects us from cosmic radiation. Kelvin-Helmholtz waves in the atmosphere form when high-speed wind blows over more stagnant air masses. The waves create turbulence and mix the air masses.
New research has shown that similar Kelvin-Helmholtz waves also frequently occur in Earth’s magnetosphere and allow particles from the solar wind to enter the magnetosphere to produce oscillations that affect Earth’s protective radiation belts.
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