The National Space Weather Monitoring and Warning Center issued a red warning for geomagnetic storms at 9 o'clock on the 11th: geomagnetic storms will occur from 23 o'clock on May 10, 2024, Beijing time, and the maximum level will reach the level of ultra-geomagnetic storms (Kp=9), and it is expected that the magnetic storm process will continue in the next 24 hours, and geomagnetic storms may still occur in the future.
Under the influence of geomagnetic storms, the ionosphere will be disturbed in most parts of the continent, and shortwave communication and navigation and positioning will be affected to varying degrees. A significant increase in the density of the upper atmosphere will lead to an increase in the orbital attenuation of low-orbit satellites.
What is a geomagnetic storm?
As the most typical solar eruption activity, a coronal mass ejection process can throw hundreds of millions of tons of solar material off the surface of the sun at a high speed of hundreds of kilometers per second, not only the kinetic energy of the huge mass and velocity convergence, but also carry the sun's powerful magnetic field energy, once it hits the earth, it will cause a change in the direction and magnitude of the geomagnetic field, that is, a geomagnetic storm.
Geomagnetic storms can be classified into the following levels:
Why are geomagnetic storms frequent in recent years?
Space weather, like Earth's weather, rotates between calm and active, but with a longer cycle, usually 11 years. Since the 25th solar week entered December 2019, solar activity has increased significantly, and strong eruption events such as X-class flares, solar proton events, and geomagnetic storms have occurred frequently, and the frequency and intensity are much higher than those of the same period in the 24th week.
In the year of solar activity, the sun is relatively active, which is one of the reasons for the frequent occurrence of geomagnetic storms in recent years. Another reason is that in recent years, the network of integrated monitoring stations in the continental air and space has been continuously improved, the ability of space weather monitoring, forecasting and early warning has been continuously improved, the prediction and forecasting of space weather events have become more accurate and refined, and the monitoring products have significantly contributed to aurora observation, which has also increased the public's awareness and attention to space weather events.
How do geomagnetic storms affect your life and mine?
The occurrence of geomagnetic storms has little impact on the daily life of the public, and will have a certain impact on the orbit of aircraft and satellites, but it can be measured and controlled.
For example, due to the influence of geomagnetic storms on the magnetic field, the orbital altitude of the satellite space station may decrease due to atmospheric drag, so it is necessary to strengthen the monitoring of the orbit and adjust the orbit as needed. The positioning error of satellite navigation equipment may increase, but it has little impact on the daily use of navigation and other functions by the public.
For air flights, the radiation dose for a daily domestic flight is about 2 to 6 microsieverts, and the radiation dose for international flights across the polar regions is slightly higher, about 50 microsieverts, which is a dose of tens to hundredths of the national security standard. When there is a geomagnetic storm or solar proton event, the radiation dose of aviation will increase, but the impact of a single flight is not significant, so you don't have to worry.
As for the release of carrier pigeons, geomagnetic storm forecasting and early warning has a good guiding role in carrying out related activities, and the relevant public can pay attention to relevant space weather forecast and early warning products in advance to minimize the release activities under adverse weather conditions and long distances.
In addition, geomagnetic storms are wonderful "processing plants" that often bring about "beautiful encounters" – the aurora. Seeing the aurora on the mainland is not an easy task. For aurora lovers, geomagnetic storms are a great time to see the aurora.
△From the evening of May 10 to the early morning of May 11, a very large magnetic storm erupted in the earth's magnetic field. Under the combined action of the earth's magnetic field and the atmosphere, the north pole village of Mohe in Heilongjiang Province reproduces the brilliant aurora scenery, and the red aurora can be seen dancing in the night sky through the naked eye. Screenshot of CCTV video
△In the early morning of May 11, 2024, with the re-outbreak of the strong solar flare, a brilliant magenta aurora appeared over Xilinhot City, Inner Mongolia.
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