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When storms in space occur close to Earth, it is called space time. Rather than the more commonly known weather in our atmosphere – rain, snow, wind, etc. – space time occurs in the form of solar flares and geomagnetic storms caused by disturbances emanating from the sun. The following are five distant facts about space weather.
Communication breakdown
Gases and particles flow from the Sun to the Earth at speeds of one million miles per hour. This flow is called the solar wind. Even though the sun is 150 million kilometers from Earth, the solar wind can affect the Earth and the rest of the solar system.
Strong solar storms can cause fluctuations in electric currents in space, energizing electrons and protons trapped in the Earth’s changing magnetic field. These disturbances can disrupt radio communications, GPS, power grids, and satellites.
More: On March 13, 1989, a geomagnetic storm caused a blackout across the province of Quebec, Canada.
Imagine all the ways people depend on satellites: space travel, cell phones, weather forecasts, TV, search and rescue, navigation, military surveillance, credit card and ATM transactions, and more. As people become more dependent on technology, the need for space weather monitoring and forecasting becomes more important.
A real drag
High-energy particles and radiation from the sun can heat the earth’s atmosphere when they collide with common molecules, such as nitrogen and oxygen. The heated air rises and causes the upper atmosphere to expand like a balloon. If an electromagnetic storm is strong enough, the atmosphere can expand so much that it engulfs the orbits of low Earth orbit satellites, slowing them down and decreasing their altitude. This process is called orbital drag.
More: Between May 10 and 12, 1999, the solar wind nearly vanished, causing the Earth’s magnetosphere to expand in volume by more than 100 times.
During an extreme magnetic storm event, a satellite could go down nearly a third of a mile in one day, according to a paper published in the November issue of Space Weather.
“That’s a lot. In fact, that’s as much as a satellite would typically lose in a year,” said Denny Oliveira, the article’s author. Oliveira is a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Ground control to Major Tom
Space weather can have serious medical effects on the brave astronauts who explore and work in space.
During geomagnetic storms, the chance of astronauts being hit by harmful particles increases. This can alter their DNA and can lead to cancer. That’s why the International Space Station has increased shielding around crew quarters and why NASA closely monitors each astronaut’s radiation exposure throughout his career.
More: On August 4, 1972, the solar flare (between Apollo 16 and 17) was so powerful that, according to some estimates, an astronaut in a spacesuit would receive a lethal dose of radiation.
Van Allen’s probes will help develop better predictive models so that astronauts can better warn storms.
Those wonderful lights
Some storms have a silver lining. In the case of space weather, that coating is the aurora, commonly known as the Northern Lights or Southern Lights. When electrons and protons around the Earth are excited by solar disturbances, they can follow the Earth’s magnetic field to the North and South magnetic poles, where they collide with atmospheric molecules. This excites them and makes them shine. The resulting colors depend on nearby atmospheric gas types, but are most commonly a bright yellow-green.
More: The most powerful aurora can generate over 1 trillion watts of power.
Looking at the future
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is the official source for space weather forecasts. It predicts solar storms, just like the National Weather Service predicts the weather here on Earth.
More: The first recorded solar flare occurred on September 2, 1859. Two astronomers were looking at the sun at exactly the right time.
To predict these storms, forecasters look to the sun for solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Solar flares are massive bursts on the surface of the sun and often occur near sunspots. They send tons of energy whizzing through space at the speed of light. The largest solar storms result from CMEs, and the speed of a CME can exceed 5 million mph.
To learn about the intersection of supply chains and space technology, join the FreightWaves SpaceWaves virtual event on Thursday.
Click here for more Nick Austin’s FreightWaves articles.
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