Wednesday, March 16, 2022
20:30
The Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States and the British Meteorological Office made a disturbing forecast: the Earth may be the victim of a “maximum activity cycle” by the Sun, “which means that sunspots and flares will become more and more constant.”
Furthermore, it was noted thatIf any of those ‘blowouts’ to which the Sun is now prone are oriented towards Earth, their effects will be felt here, in the form of a solar storm.”
Precisely, it is possible that this will happen in the coming days, since solar activity “is expected to be somewhat unstable, with “mild and moderate” geomagnetic storms during the next few days.
In any case, solar storms are somewhat more common than is believed and, in fact, we have been receiving several since mid-January. What’s more, just a few days ago, “mild and moderate geomagnetic phenomena” of the same levels expected this week were recorded.
The main consequence of these phenomena is the appearance of the Northern Lights, which might be seen at unusual altitudes. There may also be small outages in radio signals or power grids at higher latitudes, although in no case might these solar storms have direct consequences on life. Something a little different might happen with satellites: some will have to change their trajectory to avoid possible damage.
Despite their name, solar storms are totally different from those that occur on Earth. The intense magnetic activity of the Sun causes violent eruptions of plasma that travel through space at incredible speeds. The solar atmosphere is made up of gases that are totally ionized due to the high temperatures at which they are, which makes them perfect conductors of electric currents.
Sometimes there are discharges, which we know as solar storms. They can manifest as flares, as coronal mass ejections (CME) or both at the same time; and these manifestations can have consequences on the environment of the Solar System.
But our planet has a natural protection: the magnetic field. Thus, the northern lights are the showy consequence of this shield being deformed when receiving the impact of these energetic particles.
