The aurora borealis, also known as the aurora borealis, is a natural light display caused by the solar wind. … [+]
“Interplanetary shocks” that hit Earth’s magnetic field head-on are what scientists need to predict to protect any infrastructure that conducts electricity, according to a new study published today in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences.
The appearance of spectacular displays of green, red, purple and blue aurora – such as the May 10 global geomagnetic storm – can signal the arrival of strong currents on Earth that can potentially damage transmission power lines, oil and gas pipelines, railways and submarines. cables.
Interplanetary shocks
The interplanetary shock – which can lead to beautiful auroras and southern lights – is a disturbance in the solar wind. It is caused by coronal mass ejections from the Sun. A CME is a cloud of magnetic fields and charged particles from the Sun that flows into space at speeds of up to 3,000 kilometers per second.
The fault causes compression of Earth’s protective magnetic bubble, which often triggers the aurora borealis. However, it is the angle of impact of the interplanetary shocks that is key to the strength of the currents, the research says.
This is important because interplanetary shocks are much more common during solar maximum, which scientists think is happening now.
Geomagnetically induced currents can damage infrastructure that conducts electricity. The stronger the interplanetary shock, the stronger the jets and auroras. If scientists can predict that an incoming interplanetary shock will be a direct hit, rather than a glancing blow, it will help protect infrastructure from being hit, the researchers say.
The magnetosphere or magnetic field around the Earth.
Higher peaks
The work found that shocks that hit the Earth head-on, rather than at an angle, induce the strongest geomagnetically induced currents. Using the Interplanetary Earthquake Database and cross-referencing it with geomagnetically induced current data from a gas pipeline in Mäntsälä, Finland—in the “Aurora Zone”—the researchers found that frontal shocks cause higher peaks in geomagnetically induced currents. This is because they compress the magnetic field more.
They also found that the most intense peaks occurred around “magnetic midnight,” the time of night (around true midnight local time) when the North Pole was between the Sun and Mäntsälä on the night side of the Earth.
Space weather
“Auroras and geomagnetically induced currents are caused by similar drivers of space weather,” said Dr. Denny Oliveira of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, lead author. Space weather is the flow of charged particles from the sun – the solar wind. “The aurora borealis is a visual warning that suggests that electrical currents in space can generate these geomagnetically induced currents on earth.”
The aurora display on May 10 was particularly intense. The aurora appears as an oval around the polar regions, but the arrival of several CMEs that day caused the oval to widen. “The polar region can expand considerably during strong geomagnetic storms,” ​​Oliveira said. “Usually its southernmost limit is around 70 degrees latitude, but during extreme events it can drop to 40 degrees or more, which certainly happened during the May 2024 Storm – the most severe storm in two decades.
I wish you clear skies and wide eyes.
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