Embry-Riddle Student's Study of Hurricanes in Space Wins
National First Prize Daytona Beach, FL, May 8, 2012 Emily Hyatt,
an engineering physics undergraduate student at Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University, has won first prize in magnetospheric
physics in a student research contest sponsored by the National
Science Foundation (NSF) and the Community Coordinate Modeling
Center, which conducts research in space science and develops
new space weather models. Her competitors included Ph.D.
students from around the country. Hyatt used simulations to
calculate the location, size and travel time of the Kelvin-
Helmholtz Instability (KHI), huge magnetic hurricanes in space
that can break through Earth’s magnetic barrier and spill solar
wind plasma into our planetary “backyard.” They can cause
auroral ionospheric disturbances similar to the Northern Lights.
The phenomenon may also explain the loss of atmosphere on Mars.
While these hurricanes are two to three times larger than Earth,
they are dwarfed by the environmen