The Sun continues its tumultuous behavior, with flares and coronal mass ejections nearly every day since mid-January. This means that the inevitable has happened: some of those eruptions have exploded in the general direction of the Earth, which means that we are in some solar storms.
US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center The British Met Office Owns Both issued warnings for moderate and medium geomagnetic storms over the next two days.
This does not mean we have anything to worry about; In fact, we’ve already been hit by a mild and Moderate Geomagnetic storms over the past two days, recorded in G1 and G2 on Five-level solar storm gauge.
This level indicates that there may be some degradation in the high-frequency radio signals at high latitudes, and that corrective action may be required to the satellites due to changes in clouds. There may be fluctuations in the power grid and some outages activity of migratory animals. And if conditions are right, satellites can be taken out of the sky.
We may also see an uptick in both the aurora borealis and the aurora australia.
“There is an opportunity for the auroral ellipse to improve at some point during March 13 and 14 as a result of two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and a high-velocity coronal hole reaching Earth,” Met Office advised. These light shows can be seen as low as 55° latitude, at each pole.
(NOAA SWPC)
Solar storms are very natural space weather, which occur when our Sun becomes more active. As a result, coronal mass ejections and the solar wind cause disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field and upper atmosphere. Currently, both are happening.
CMEs It’s pretty much exactly what it looks like. The sun’s corona — the outermost region of its atmosphere — explodes, releasing plasma and magnetic fields into space. If the CME is pointed at Earth, the collision of solar ballistics with Earth’s magnetic field can cause a geomagnetic storm – also known as a solar storm.
The solar wind emerges from “holes” in the sun’s corona. These are cooler, less dense regions of plasma in the Sun’s atmosphere, with more open magnetic fields. These open areas allow the solar wind to escape more easily, blowing electromagnetic radiation into space at high speeds; If the hole faces the ground, that wind can blow right at us.
When charged particles from the Sun hit the Earth’s atmosphere, they are directed along Earth’s magnetic field lines to the poles, where they fall into the upper atmosphere and interact with the particles in it. This reaction ionizes the molecules and makes them glow; This is the twilight.
according to Aurora borealis forecast in space weather14 and 15 March have maximum levels of Kp 6 and Kp 5, respectively in Kp index of ten points of geomagnetic activity. This means a strong possibility of dynamic bright aurora with a possible auroral corona, so it’s a good time to go chasing the lights in the sky.
If the sun seems to be getting more active lately, that’s because it is. Our star goes through 11-year activity cycles, with a noticeable peak and trough, known as the Sun’s maximum and Sun minimum. Solar minimum occurs, when the sun’s magnetic field is at its weakest, when the sun’s magnetic poles switch positions. The most recent solar minimum occurred in December 2019.
This means that we are currently climbing toward the sun’s maximum, when the sun’s magnetic field is at its strongest. Since the Sun’s magnetic field controls its activity, this means that we will see a rise in sunspots, solar flares, and CMEs. (Sunspots are temporary regions of strong magnetic fields that form when the solar magnetic field becomes entangled.)
The solar maximum is set to occur in July 2025. It can be difficult to predict how active any given cycle will be, but there is evidence to suggest we may be entering the strongest cycle on record yet.
More powerful solar storms can cause more serious problems, so hopefully our star will keep a relatively low profile.