Northern Lights - is it more than a riot of colours?
World
Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, are most often seen in Alaska, Canada and Scandinavi
Alaska (AP/AFP) - A solar storm forecast for Thursday is expected to give skygazers in 17 American states a chance to glimpse the Northern Lights, the colorful sky show that happens when solar wind hits the atmosphere.
Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, are most often seen in Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia, but an 11-year solar cycle that’s expected to peak in 2024 is making the lights visible in places farther to the south. Three months ago, the light displays were visible in Arizona, marking the third severe geomagnetic storm since the current solar cycle began in 2019.
The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks has forecast auroral activity on Thursday in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Indiana, Maine and Maryland.
The northern lights appear in the sky due to the geomagnetic activity and solar storms on the sun which hit and interact with the Earth's forces affecting satellites used for communications on Earth.
Days earlier, amid rising activity on the sun's surface, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center stated that a "strong radio blackout" occurred in some parts of the US recently.
"The flare came from a large and complex region denoted as sunspot group 3354," NOAA said, adding that it led to a "temporary degradation or complete loss of High Frequency (HF) radio signals on some of the sunlit sides of Earth."
"The magnetic field lines near sunspots cause explosions as they reorganise, causing solar flares. It releases a lot of radiation into space. The intense explosion, releases radiation that can interfere with our radio communications on Earth," said Nasa while explaining solar activity.
Apart from this, another concern is solar storm events in which huge amounts of coronal mass ejection (CME) take place, travelling from space to hit the Earth's magnetic field.
Their effects could spark geomagnetic storms. As a result, the satellites, communication, internet connectivity, and GPS could be disrupted or damaged. It could also cause power grid failures, and is a cause behind amazing views of northern lights
Therefore, scientists believe as the sun becomes more active, more sunspots, solar flares, and CMEs are expected to erupt.
Happy #SunDay! This week’s space weather report includes:
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) June 25, 2023
· 1 C-class solar flares
· 15 M-class flares
· 1 X-class flare
· 23 coronal mass ejections
· 1 geomagnetic storm
This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows activity on the Sun over the past week. pic.twitter.com/ZVymmmCm2u
The solar storm Sunday led to brief radio blackouts lasting for about 30 minutes in the western US and parts of the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to NOAA.
"When this week began, sunspot AR3354 didn’t exist. Now it is 10 times wider than Earth and still growing. The sunspot burst into view on June 27th, breaching the surface of the sun, then blossoming into a giant over the next 48 hours," noted Spaceweather.com.
According to the NPR report, Wednesday, the storm will be highly visible "low on the horizon from Seattle, Des Moines [Iowa], Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, and Halifax [Nova Scotia]."
On Thursday, the storm will get stronger and can be seen overhead in Minneapolis, Milwaukee; Bay City, Mich., and on the horizon in Salem, Mass.; Boise, Idaho; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Lincoln, Neb.; Indianapolis, and Annapolis, Md.
