Space tsunamis reveal where solar storms will strike next and the countries most threatened with power grid failure

This sent shockwaves through the science community.A shocking analysis of interstellar “tsunamis” has revealed where Earth’s magnetic shield is most vulnerable to powerful magnetic storms — and the widespread power outages they cause.“Asymmetries in the wave motion at the edge of the magnetic field have been observed before, but now we were able to show how they arise,” study author Lauri Holappa, of the University of Oulu, said in a statement.Unfortunately, the studies found that depending on the season, some of the Northern latitude countries — including the upper half of the US — appear right in the line of fire.The study published in Geophysical Research Letters focuses on the magnetosphere, the protective forcefield that shields our planet from harmful sun particles and energy known as solar wind.This cosmic sun-screen is not sealed, but rather open at the edges, where it constantly interacts with solar wind.This intergalactic interplay drives space weather, producing cosmic light shows known as auroras that are visible from the Northern latitudes.

However, it also makes us vulnerable to coronal mass ejections — powerful discharges of solar particles — and the resultant solar storms that have the potential to disrupt satellites, and knock out radio communications and power grids.Unfortunately, solar storms have been difficult to study as they don’t impact Earth evenly.To shed light on the phenomenon, the Finnish scientists focused on the wave motion formed when solar wind bumps up against the magnetosphere’s periphery.Known as Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, these celestial tsunamis are visible everywhere, including wind-battered clouds, the sun’s atmosphere, the edges of other planets such as Jupiter and interstellar space.Holappa said she was inspired in 2020 when, working as a NASA postdoctoral researcher, she noticed “unusual simulation images of the magnetosphere.”“I later realized that they showed Kelvin–Helmholtz waves,” th...