They found that gravity waves"break" on the surfaces of planes, just like ocean waves breaking on the beach, causing much of the turbulence that occurs out of the blue in clear air.
The waves coming off the point break to the north looked good, so we pulled on our 4mm wet suits and paddled out a calm channel just to the south of the break.
To do so, astronomers resort to Fourier analysis, a mathematical technique that allows them to break a complex curve into a set of simple ones called sine waves.