Government weather agencies in the U.S. and UK say Earth could be hit by a series of mild geomagnetic storms on Monday and Tuesday after a moderate solar flare blasted out of the sun's atmosphere.
The storms aren't likely to cause any harm on Earth, save for possibly muddling radio transmissions and affecting power grid stability at high latitudes, however, the Aurora borealis could be seen at lower latitudes that usual, possibly as far south as New.
The incoming storms were categorized by the agency as a category G2 on Monday and a G1 on Tuesday. The latest G2 storm to pass by Earth on Sunday (March 13) was not as bad as the previous one, but was still in the midst of a mild solar storm streak.
The predicted events on Monday and Tuesday are related to an eruption of charged particles leaving the sun's corona. The sun's atmosphere tangles and snaps, causing the magnetic field lines to erupt into space.
The particles that sail across the solar system on the sun's solar wind sometimes pass right over Earth. The storm is triggered by that compression.
The majority of storms are mild and only affect technology in space or high latitudes. The 1859 Carrington Event, which caused strong electrical currents to burst into flame, is one of the more extreme storms that larger CMEs can cause. Live Science previously reported that some scientists warned that another solar storm of that size could cause the internet to go down for weeks or months.
There are solar storms that cause the Aurora. The atmosphere of Earth is glowing due to the ionization of the ambient oxygen and nitrogen molecule. The northern lights were visible on Hawaii during the Carrington event, which was caused by powerful CMEs.
Since mid-January, the sun has been spitting out a lot of comet-like particles, though not all of them have crossed paths with Earth. As we head toward the part of the sun's 11-year activity cycle known as Solar Maximum, it is expected that there will be solar storms. The next Solar Maximum is expected to hit around July 2025, with solar activity likely to increase all the time.
It was originally published on Live Science.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
