Geomagnetic storm warning
The UK's Met Office and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have issued a warning:
Geomagnetic storms are hitting the Earth, there are several in a week, not only mild geomagnetic storms, but also moderate geomagnetic storms, and it is inevitable that some of the current solar ejections and corona material have exploded in the direction of The Earth!
Probably most people do not feel that in the past few days, the earth has been hit by geomagnetic storms, but we are currently hit by geomagnetic storms, equivalent to G2 and G1 levels.
Geomagnetic storms have caused trouble: nearly 40 satellites have fallen, and there is the Carrington incident in the distance!
Objectively speaking, solar storms are originally a relatively common natural phenomenon, but if the energy and material ejected at the time of the outbreak are huge, it will have a large impact on the earth's space environment such as the geomagnetic layer after reaching near-Earth space, and then interfere with normal human activities.
To be more specific, fast plasma clouds, fast when 1 day, slow time can reach the earth, once there is a strong interaction with the earth's magnetosphere, it will be when the earth's magnetic field changes, and further trigger the aforementioned geomagnetic storm, the strength of the geomagnetic storm determines whether the satellite we emit can still operate normally, including radio communications.
In February 2022, the United States launched 49 satellites in one click, 40 of which were destroyed by a geomagnetic storm, just the day after launch. Moreover, the geomagnetic storm at that time was not particularly strong, equivalent to the Kp=5 level, but the geomagnetic storm of this intensity still increased the resistance of the satellite by 50% compared with usual. In order to minimize air resistance, the ground had to adjust the flight attitude of the satellites, and the result was that 40 satellites, all of which could not return to normal mode, returned to the Earth's atmosphere.
Re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere is undoubtedly a disaster for starlink satellites, because this represents automatic destruction, which is formulated when the satellite is designed, and will not collide with other satellites in orbit, and there will be no debris hitting the ground after the crash.
Moreover, before the launch, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States warned of geomagnetic storms, because there would be solar storms on the day of the satellites, but the result was that there was no delay in launching, which can be said to be "natural disasters" and "man-made disasters" together.
The Carrington incident, which was also essentially triggered by a solar storm, was argued by U.S. scientists to be the strongest magnetic storm ever observed, enough to destroy sputniks.
The main reason why it caused no more damage than the two solar storms in 1989 and 2003 was mainly because there were no modern power transmission networks, radio communications and artificial satellites at that time, and the most worrying thing scientists were that such a strong solar storm could still happen, and there was no way for humans to stop it.
Because it happened as early as September 1, 59, Carrington is actually a British astronomical enthusiast, although he observed the solar eruption at the first time, but the scientists at that time did not know much about this aspect, and were not willing to easily give conclusions, until many years later there were more flare outbreaks, and then gradually confirmed Carrington's ideas, but also later people in order to commemorate him, so the super event named "Carrington Event" that year.
How strong are these magnetic storms, and where will they be affected?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration divides the size of geomagnetic storms into five grades, with G5 representing extreme, G4 indicating severity, G3 indicating stronger, G2 being more moderate, and G1 being secondary. Extreme geomagnetic storms mean that transformers can be damaged, power grid systems can be directly paralyzed, and even the operation of spacecraft such as satellites will encounter problems.
Although the intensity of geomagnetic storms such as G1 and G2 will not cause much interference to the Earth, we do not need to worry too much, but high-frequency radio signals at high latitudes may have a certain degree of attenuation, coupled with resistance will also change, and may also involve satellite correction.
In addition, geomagnetic storms hitting the Earth may also cause the power grid to fluctuate while affecting the normal activities of migratory animals. If the conditions just happened, it was very likely that the satellite in the sky would fall. When the local magnetic storm comes, there is a chance to see the Southern And Northern Lights rising, taking March 15 as an example, the highest level of activity on this day can reach Kp5, not only the possibility of seeing the bright auroras in motion, but also the opportunity to see the aurora corona.
All in all:
If it was hundreds of years ago, solar storms would indeed not have a significant impact on human production and life, because the earth not only has a dense atmosphere, but also a strong magnetic field protection, so which harmful to human beings of high energy radiation and harmful rays, most of them are difficult to enter the space within the earth's atmosphere, including solar storms.
But now it is different, the more advanced the level of science and technology and information, the greater the harm caused by solar storms, such as electricity. When solar storms are too intense, Earth's power system is hit hard, and radio communications, such as the two solar flares that erupted in December 2006, severely disrupted the spread of short-wave radio signals on the mainland and short-wave detection signals from on-demand observatories.