According to Geosphere Austria, the strongest geomagnetic storm in nearly eight years hit Earth on Friday night. The result: Intense Northern Lights were seen in Northern Europe, Great Britain, Canada and the US.
In Austria, according to Geosphere Austria (formerly ZAMG), “a faint glow was seen on several webcams shortly after midnight on March 24”. In the United States, the natural spectacle, also known as the aurora borealis, could even be observed as far south as the state of Arizona.
The solar storm responsible for this was ejected from our central star on March 20 in a relatively unspectacular outburst and also traveled at relatively slow speed toward Earth, reaching the storm at noon on March 23, Geosphere, the Federal Institute for Geology, Geophysics, Climatology and Meteorology.
Whether solar storms cause a so-called geomagnetic storm when they hit the Earth’s magnetic field depends mainly on the structure of the internal magnetic field. Although the solar storm’s magnetic field was rather weak, experts say it had “just the right orientation to transfer a lot of energy to the Earth’s magnetic field to cause the Northern Lights.”
Increase of direct currents in the electricity grid
The magnetic variations were measured at Geosphere Austria’s Conrad Observatory and reached a high activity level typical of a solar storm over a period of more than 15 hours. There was also a slight increase in direct currents in the Austrian electricity grid.
Another solar storm is expected
The storm had “almost completely passed over the Earth” by Friday afternoon. However, a second solar storm is expected, which could bring further geomagnetic activity in the coming days. Northern lights in Austria are quite unlikely.
Can cripple power grids and GPS
However, solar storms can also have dramatic effects on life on Earth. They can cause serious malfunctions in electrical appliances and shut down or destroy entire electricity networks. In addition, radio and mobile telephone networks and GPS can be disrupted by the radiation.
Source: Krone
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