Hot Flow Anomalies occur in the Solar Wind outside of the bow shock, and probably would have no noticeable effect on the ground. It's possible, however, that they will cause upheavals in the upper atmosphere, or ionosphere.hertz wrote: Couple of questions. I read that you borrowed some data from the Venus Express that showed the anomaly (wonder if that's what we should call them given their frequency?) happened on Mar 22, 2008. Were you able to pinpoint or even guess roughly where this happened on the surface and would surface scarring even be visible or lie buried under the atmosphere?
This isn't quite what's going on. It's not really an "eddie", and I'm not sure if "instability" is the correct technical term or not. Think of them like a bubble that is attached to the bow shock.hertz wrote: Is it accurate to think of these as "eddies" that get left behind, so to speak, take on a life of their own, build up an instability and then dissipate via violence? Do they always dissipate via violence?
The way that a Hot Flow Anomaly forms is basically the solar wind interacting with a planet's Bow Shock. The way we think they form is when conditions in the solar wind are just right to generate powerful electric currents that sweep the ions in the solar wind into one spot (just above the bow shock). Then it gets very hot (though processes that honestly we don't completely understand, though it's probably to do with waves). The hot plasma forms like a bubble which expands faster than the local sound speed. So, basically it's not the plasma itself that is "exploding", like a fusion bomb or something, it's this ball of heated plasma that's expanding really quickly, and deflects the incoming solar wind. This all happens really quickly, maybe less than 30 seconds, before the HFA is swept off the bow shock by the solar wind, and travels off out into interplanetary space.
Oh no no no, don't worry , HFAs are interesting and mysterious phenomena, but they are not at all "catastrophic". They do cause all kinds of exciting effects at the earth, like causing the whole magnetosphere to shudder (which you could detect if you had a sensitive enough compass), and cause a brightening of the Aurora, but nothing that is going to cause you any harm.hertz wrote:Given the Earth's magnetosphere, would it ever be possible for an HFA to build up to catastrophic proportions here?
Yes (But I can't talk about it yet)hertz wrote:Besides finding evidence for the first ever HFA on Venus, was there anything else about this project that you found particularly interesting or exciting? What, if any, is the followon to this new information, or what new projects might it spark?
Well, thank you for showing an interest in my research! And every scientist always loves talking about their workhertz wrote:Thanks for taking the time to be here and congrats on your find!
Do please keep the questions coming
~Glyn