Officials Confirm Several Geomagnetic Storms Are Hitting Earth This Week

The Sun has had flares and mass ejections almost every day since January. That means that the inevitable has happened, and that we are in for some solar storms, because some of the eruptions have blasted in the general direction of Earth.

The British Met Office has issued advisories for mild and moderate storms over the next couple of days.

We have already been hit by mild and moderate storms over the last couple of days, and that doesn't mean we have anything to worry about.

There may be some degradation of high-frequency radio signals at high latitudes, and corrective actions may need to be taken for satellites due to changes in drag. There may be fluctuations in the power grid. Satellites can be knocked out of the sky if the conditions are right.

There may be an increase in both the Aurora australis and the Aurora borealis.

The British Met Office advised that there is a chance of enhancements to the auroral oval at times during 13th and 14th March as a result of two Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and a high speed stream arriving at Earth. Light shows can be seen as low as 55 degrees latitude.

The SWPC is from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Solar storms are normal space weather when the Sun is more active. The Earth has a magnetic field and upper atmosphere. Both are happening right now.

It's pretty much what they sound like. The Sun's corona erupts, releasing magnetic fields into space. A solar storm is caused by the collision of the solar ejection with the Earth's magnetic field.

Solar winds come from the Sun's corona. The cooler, less dense regions of the Sun's atmosphere have more open magnetic fields. If the hole is facing Earth, the solar winds can blow right at us, because of the open regions.

When charged particles from the Sun hit Earth's atmosphere, they are sent along Earth's magnetic field lines to the poles, where they interact with Molecules. This interaction makes the molecule glow.

The maximum levels of Kp 6 and Kp 5 on the ten-point Kp index of geomagnetic activity can be found on 14 and 15 March. It is a good time to chase lights in the sky because there is a good chance of a bright, dynamic Aurorae.

If it seems like the Sun is more active lately, that is because it is. The peak and trough of our star's activity cycles are known as solar maximum and solar minimum. When the Sun's magnetic poles switch places, the solar minimum takes place. The solar minimum took place in December.

When the solar magnetic field is at its strongest, we are currently escalating toward solar maximum. The Sun has a magnetic field that controls its activity. When the solar magnetic field tangles, there are temporary regions of strong magnetic fields that form.

The solar maximum is expected to take place in July. It can be difficult to predict how active any given cycle will be, but there is evidence to suggest we might be entering the strongest cycle recorded to date.

Hopefully our star will keep it low key because solar storms can cause more significant problems.