And just in time for the solar maximum, when wind-generating coronal holes like to point right at Earth
"It's like seeing jets of water emanating from a showerhead through the blast of water hitting you in the face," the institution said of the winds being generated at the surface.
By identifying areas of supergranulation – large convection cells where the fast solar winds actually originate – Bale and his team believe they've also determined how the fast solar winds are actually being formed, through a concept called magnetic reconnection. The convection cells, Bale explained, meet and"drag the magnetic field in their path into this downward kind of funnel. The magnetic field becomes very intensified there because it's just jammed," he said.
That jamming effect is where the bursts of energy that cause the fast solar wind get their start, the team believes."It doesn't just come from everywhere in a coronal hole, it's substructured within coronal holes to these supergranulation cells. It comes from these little bundles of magnetic energy that are associated with the convection flows," Bale said.
"The big conclusion is that it's magnetic reconnection within these funnel structures that's providing the energy source of the fast solar wind," Bale said., furthering our understanding of contrasting"slow" solar winds.The discovery of how fast solar winds form couldn't come at a better time because the Sun's 11-year activity cycle isits most energetic period, meaning more solar storms that could be a major problem for our increasingly electrified society.
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