A powerful Solar flare and coronal mass ejection released by the Sun could cause colorful auroras in the US sky, but could also lead to disruptions in communications infrastructure according to the US National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
The severe solar storm, initially classified as level 4 on a scale of 1 to 5, could cause failures in communications, the power grid and satellite operations, according to center officials. Colorful auroras may also be visible in areas of the United States, such as Alabama and Northern California — much further south than they normally appear.
The storm arrived on Earth at 12:17 pm (Brasília time) this Thursday (10), with the potential to last until Friday. While level 3 (G3), or strong, storm conditions were observed at 12:49 am (Brasília time), scientists at the center confirmed that the storm reached level 4 (G4) conditions at 1:57 pm (Brasília time).
The storm arrived at Earth moving at about 1.5 million miles per hour and reached the Deep Space Climate Observatory and Advanced Composition Explorer satellites, which orbit 1 million miles from Earth, about 15 to 30 minutes early.
The satellites measure the storm’s speed and magnetic intensity, said Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at the Space Weather Prediction Center, at a news conference Wednesday.
A series of the most intense types of solar flares, known as Class X flares, were released by the Sun this week. These eruptions also coincided with coronal mass ejections on Tuesday.
Coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, are large clouds of ionized gas called plasma and magnetic fields that rise from the Sun’s outer atmosphere. When these explosions are aimed at Earth, they can cause geomagnetic storms, or significant disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field. Earth.
“Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in Earth orbit and on the Earth’s surface,” according to the US Space Weather Prediction Center.
As a result, the center notified the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the North American power grid and satellite operators to prepare for outages, especially considering preparations and relief efforts expected for Hurricane Milton, Dahl said.
Historically, level 4 storms are common during a solar cycle, but level 5, or extreme geomagnetic, storms like the one that occurred on May 10 are incredibly rare, Dahl said. This new storm has a 25% chance of becoming a G5, he said.
Increased solar activity
As the Sun approaches its maximum period — the peak of its 11-year cycle, expected this year — it becomes more active, and researchers have observed increasingly intense solar flares.
Increased solar activity causes auroras that dance around Earth’s poles, known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis, and the southern lights, or aurora australis. When energized particles from coronal mass ejections hit Earth’s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere to create these colorful lights in the sky.
Currently, scientists at the center believe visible auroras will likely appear in central eastern states and the lower U.S. Midwest, but it is not yet known whether the storm will cause a global aurora phenomenon like G5 in May, Dahl said. However, if the storm escalates to G5, auroras could be visible in southern states and other parts of the world.
Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recommend using the center’s aurora panel to find out whether northern and southern lights are predicted to be visible in your area. The dashboard is constantly updated and can show where an aurora might appear within minutes of the information becoming available.
The chance of seeing auroras has also increased dramatically, given that darkness comes earlier at this time of year. U.S. skywatchers who spotted auroras caused by a G3 storm over the weekend saw the northern lights an hour or two after dark, Dahl said.
And even though the colorful displays aren’t as apparent to the naked eye, sensors in cameras and cellphone cameras can capture them, center officials said.
Potential for disruptions
NOAA scientists have said they do not believe this week’s storm will surpass May’s. Before that, the last G5 storm to hit Earth occurred in 2003, resulting in power outages in Sweden and damaging electrical transformers in South Africa.
During the May geomagnetic storm, tractor company John Deere reported that some customers dependent on GPS for precision agriculture experienced outages. But for the most part, power grid and satellite operators kept satellites orderly and properly in orbit and managed the buildup of intense geomagnetic currents in grid systems.
The May solar storm was the most successfully mitigated space weather storm in history, Dahl said.
Scientists continue to monitor spikes in solar activity as they increase, as they can indicate where the Sun currently is in its cycle.
The speed of Tuesday’s coronal mass ejection surprised scientists at the center, as it is the fastest measured this solar cycle so far, Dahl said. But this does not mean that peak solar activity is occurring now. Previous solar cycles have shown that some of the biggest storms can occur after the peak, he said.
“We’re in the middle of solar maximum right now; we just don’t know if we’ve reached the peak yet,” Dahl said. “This will be decided later and could be later this year or even early next year. The bottom line is that we will still have a busy period with solar cycle activity through this year, as well as next year and into early 2026.”
This content was originally published in Strong solar storm threatens communication services and electrical grid on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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