After Dark: Catch a Wave

Our universe is awash with waves. From sound waves jostling air molecules to seismic waves shifting the earth beneath our feet to electromagnetic waves vibrating through the vacuum of space, we are buffeted by traveling disturbances. Come surf a groundswell of wave science and ride the face of big wave culture with short documentaries and live surf rock.

PRESENTATIONS

Words of Waves
With Ron Hipschman
7:00 p.m. | Kanbar Forum
Wavelength, frequency, amplitude, resonance: learn to parse wave jargon through engaging illustrations and demonstrations. You’ll see the light and hear the sound.

Sounds Like a Shatteringly Good Time
With Zeke Kossover
7:00, 8:00, and 9:00 p.m. | East Gallery
When people say that a speaker's comments resonate with them, it means they share ideas in common. That connection is usually a good thing. When glass resonates with a speaker, they share a common frequency, which might tear the glass apart. Come see the downside of a good connection.

Surfing Maverick’s: Call of the Data
With Lori Lambertson
8:00 p.m. | Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery
Maverick's is a big wave surf spot 25 miles south of San Francisco and home to some of the biggest waves in the world. Every winter, Pacific storms create conditions that produce waves with faces up to 50 feet high. But the Titans of Mavericks big wave surf contest can’t be planned in advance. What conditions produce these perfect, giant, crashing waves? It's all about the data. Explore the nexus of meteorological data, popular science, and surf culture that equals Maverick's.

Gravitational Waves: Ripples in Space-Time
With Brian Lantz
8:30 p.m. | Kanbar Forum
In the middle of the night on September 14, 2015, humanity made the first direct detection of a gravitational wave from outer space. That wave was generated by the collision of two black holes about 1.3 billion light years from the Earth, and it was measured by the twin detectors of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The collision was one of the most powerful events in the universe, releasing three times the mass of the sun as energy in a fraction of a second, and yet when the signal reached the Earth, the distortion it caused in the length of the 4 km-long LIGO detectors was only a tiny fraction of the diameter of a proton. That signal was the opening bell for a new type of astronomy. Tonight, discover the implications of that signal and the remarkable instruments used for its detection.

Smartfin
With the Surfrider Foundation
6:30 - 9:30 p.m. | East Gallery Corridor
Examine a surfboard fin equipped with sensors that measure multiple ocean parameters including salinity, temperature, location, wave characteristics, and pH (in development). Smartfin will enable surfers to share important data in near real time with scientists worldwide while raising awareness about trends in ocean warming and acidification brought about by climate change.

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