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Continued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storming Observed
- samstave 9y agoI am starting to think that someone at HAARP went rogue....
- daenney 9y agoSo what does this mean?
- colanderman 9y agoThe scale is explained here: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation (click on "Geomagnetic storms")
- daenney 9y agoAh, lovely. Thanks for the pointer!
- bb88 9y agoLots of photographers shooting the aurora as it creeps down in latitude.
- colanderman 9y agoMeaning of G4: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation "Power systems: Possible widespread voltage control problems and some protective systems will mistakenly trip out key assets from the grid. Spacecraft operations: May experience surface charging and tracking problems, corrections may be needed for orientation problems. Other systems: Induced pipeline currents affect preventive measures, HF radio propagation sporadic, satellite navigation degraded for hours, low-frequency radio navigation disrupted, and aurora has been seen as low as Alabama and northern California (typically 45° geomagnetic lat.)." Apparently there are 100 of these per 11-year solar cycle.
- dbcurtis 9y agowhat "these" do we have 100 of? X class flares, or X class flares facing the Earth? Because just by chance we are usually out of harm's way.
- lgats 9y agoHaving subscribed to NOAA's alerts a couple years ago, I would say we might get an event like this once a year or two
- jsjohnst 9y agoPer the link above, this is the 8th most powerful CME hitting earth in recorded history. An X9.3 is not a yearly thing.
- Rebelgecko 9y agoHow far back does "recorded history" go for these sorts of detailed space weather measurements? The linked #8 ranking seems to be based on 20 years of data
- SolarNet 9y agoI think they go back to the early telegraph based off of observations of static on the wire and other related problems (a telegraph was basically a giant inductor).
- olivermarks 9y agoDoes anyone have any thoughts on any relationships between the recent solar flares and magnetic storms and the hurricanes and Mexican earthquake? Is this coincidence or does major space weather events result in major earth weather? https://www.space.com/38057-sun-unleashes-decades-strongest-solar-flare.html https://www.space.com/38057-sun-unleashes-decades-strongest-...
- pera 9y ago> There's no obvious pattern between solar activity and seismicity, so our results were inconclusive https://phys.org/news/2013-04-link-solar-earthquakes.html https://phys.org/news/2013-04-link-solar-earthquakes.html
- delegate 9y agoThere's also the eclipse preceding these events. Of course there are relationships, I just don't think most of us (scientists or scientifically inclined) know how to see them, since some of the links are not in the 'rational' space. Shamans still have better answers than scientists to these kinds of questions, but I don't think that most people want to hear the answers. Either way something extraordinary is taking place, hopefully it will lead to something positive in the end.
- BuffaloBagel 9y agoDude, you're blowing my mind which your causality warping.
- jacquesm 9y agoWhat a load of crock. Eclipses have nothing whatsoever to do with solar flares, Shamans are con men and have no answers to anything relevant that scientists could not answer better and most people do not want to hear the answers any more than they want to hear other random bullshit. If the links are not in rational space they do not exist, period.
- delegate 9y ago
- Animats 9y agoChecking the PJM power grid's alerts: Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for 01:47 on 09.08.2017 through 17:00 on 09.08.2017 . A GMD warning of K7 or greater is in effect for this period. Additional Comments: SpaceWeatherPredictionCenter Extended original Warning of GMD Intensity of K7 or greater until 9/8/17 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT). Warning: A Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning has been issued for 19:21 on 09.07.2017 through 02:00 on 09.08.2017 . A GMD warning of K7 or greater or greater is in effect for this period. These are just warnings. No alarms or actions yet. The effect of these events on the power grid is to induce DC currents between grounded points far apart. This reduces the capacity of some transformers by causing partial saturation. PJM monitors those currents at some substations, and will take action if transformers start to saturate. There are routine switching procedures for this. For long-distance DC lines, it's a win; the system can use the power.
- mrguyorama 9y agoHow common are long-distance DC lines and what are they used for? My understanding is that the vast majority of power infrastructure is AC, and long distances are using High Voltage AC lines
- sandworm101 9y agoOldschool telephone lines.
- fastaguy88 9y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current
- jerkstate 9y agoHVDC is becoming more common for medium and long distance transmission lines because HVDC doesn't suffer from the "skin effect" where current is carried mostly by the outside of the conductor, and therefore you can transmit more power with less conductor with HVDC. The tradeoff is, it's much easier to step up and step down AC voltage (using solid state transformers)
- Sharlin 9y ago65°N 26°E last night: http://www.taivaanvahti.fi/observations/show/66829 http://www.taivaanvahti.fi/observations/show/66829 I live at 61°30'N or so and there could have been a great show around these parts as well but of course it had to be completely overcast last night. And will most likely be the next couple of nights as well. Frustrating.
- fsloth 9y agoHistorical reference: For example, there was a pretty big blackout in '89 due to space weather https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/sun_darkness.html https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/sun_darkness.html
- hyperion2010 9y agoMight want to drop the 'just' there, since the warning was over as of 11am EST on Sept 8th (today).
- Diederich 9y agohttp://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast is a nice resource.
- 3JPLW 9y agoLooks like they're predicting larger than usual aurora effects as a result: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast Still not getting too far into the lower 48 states, but looks like there should be good visibility throughout Canada and northern UK.
- dawnerd 9y agoThere was a period last night that there was a maybe small chance it was viewable in WA/OR but naturally it was cloudy. So much for that.
- eternalban 9y agoThis guys [1] apparently predicted the Mexican quake last night. He has an interesting theory regarding connection between Solar activity and earthquakes. Let's hope he's a crank as he's predicting more events for the weekend. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/user/dutchsinse https://www.youtube.com/user/dutchsinse
- rrmm 9y agoSelective recall? Those guys predict a lot of earthquakes. You really have to look at it statistically in terms of all hits and misses of their predictions. I can predict there will be an earthquake in the pacific ring of the fire in the next 72 hours, but me being right doesn't mean I know anything except that there are a lot of earthquakes in the ring of fire (which is something, but not specific enough to do anything with). Also, if there is a link between solar activity and earthquakes, earthquakes should show an 11 year cyclic pattern, and they don't.
- eternalban 9y agoI agree re. stats, but specific claims he is making is precisely this: for every deep magnitude m there will be compensating shallow magnitude M (> m) along the boundary conditions. So it isn't just e.g. "earthquake in ring of fire" but rather "strong but shallow earthquakes along west cost and central America". He had also predicted a specific spot in Japan that apparently got hit today with a 4 something. (See his last video.) Anyway, since now he is predicting a continuity along the fracking zones in the center running East and up to East Coast in the next few days, I guess we'll find out how good his methodology is. The solar connection he is making is per his conjectured model of Earth (which he claims does not have a solid spinning metal but rather a sort of plasma that gets energy funnled to it via the mag. poles). So one would, as you say, expect to see a pattern of heightened activity correlated with the solar cycles. And I have no idea if that is in fact the case. Let's see how things pan out.
- god_bless_texas 9y agoI was flying both a manned aircraft yesterday as well as a very expensive drone. I saw some really weird stuff all day long on both of them.
- brandon272 9y agoDo solar flares affect commercial airliners?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- japhyr 9y agoI was going to ask if anyone knows whether these storms affect the accuracy of GPS systems. Then I found this: > In calm conditions, single frequency GPS systems can provide position information with an accuracy of a meter or less. During a severe space weather storm, these errors can increase to tens of meters or more. Dual frequency GPS systems can provide position information accurate to a few centimeters. In this case the two different GPS signals are used to better characterize the ionosphere and remove its impact on the position calculation. But when the ionosphere becomes highly disturbed, the GPS receiver cannot lock on the satellite signal and position information becomes inaccurate. [0] I'm going to try to figure out whether the navigation system on my boat has a dual frequency system or not. I'd hate to be "tens of meters" off when trying to navigate between submerged rocks, and there are lots of submerged rocks around here. If anyone wants to share anything more about how these events affect the accuracy of GPS systems, I'd love to hear it. [0] - http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/impacts/space-weather-and-gps-systems http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/impacts/space-weather-and-gps-syste...
- dscpls 9y agoNice resource, thanks! Note that this is exactly why they teach you not to rely on your gps for navigation between rocks. You should be using sightings, log and compass. And that's why you dont leave anchorage in fog.
- tempestn 9y agoPossibly stupid question, but could this be related to the earthquake lights seen in Mexico around the recent quake? IE could it be the reason the effect was so pronounced?
- kazinator 9y agoDo solar flares and or geomagnetic storms affect human health? https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/8367/do-solar-flares-and-or-geomagnetic-storms-affect-human-health https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/8367/do-solar-f...