Power systems: weak power grid fluctuations can occur.
Spacecraft operations: minor impact on satellite operations possible.
Other systems: migratory animals are affected at this and higher levels; aurora is commonly visible at high latitudes (northern Michigan and Maine).
sec.noaa.gov...
Geophysical Alert Message
Issued: 2005 Sep 10 0908 UTC
Solar-terrestrial indices for 09 September follow.
Solar flux 99 and mid-latitude A-index 21.
The mid-latitude K-index at 0900 UTC on 10 September was 5 (72 nT).
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been strong.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred.
Solar radiation storms reaching the S2 level occurred.
Radio blackouts reaching the R3 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be strong.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level are expected.
Solar radiation storms reaching the S2 level are expected.
Radio blackouts reaching the R3 level are expected.
sec.noaa.gov...
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Here's an interesting connection:
Ozone levels drop when hurricanes are strengthening
Zou and Wu noticed that over 100 miles, the area of a hurricane typically has low levels of ozone from the surface to the top of the hurricane. Whenever a hurricane intensifies, it appears that the ozone levels throughout the storm decrease. When they looked at the storm with ozone data a hurricane's eye becomes very clear. Because forecasters always try to pinpoint the eye of the hurricane, this knowledge will help with locating the exact position and lead to better tracking.
www.physorg.com...
Solar Storms Destroy Ozone, Study Reconfirms
When the sun's protons hit the atmosphere they break up molecules of nitrogen gas and water vapor. When nitrogen gas molecules split apart, they can create molecules, called nitrogen oxides, which can last several weeks to months depending on where they end up in the atmosphere. Once formed, the nitrogen oxides react quickly with ozone and reduce its amounts. When atmospheric winds blow them down into the middle stratosphere, they can stay there for months, and continue to keep ozone at a reduced level.
Protons similarly affect water vapor molecules by breaking them up into forms where they react with ozone. However, these molecules, called hydrogen oxides, only last during the time period of the solar proton event. These short-term effects of hydrogen oxides can destroy up to 70 percent of the ozone in the middle mesosphere. At the same time, longer-term ozone loss caused by nitrogen oxides destroys a maximum of about nine percent of the ozone in the upper stratosphere. Only a few percent of total ozone is in the mesosphere and upper stratosphere with over 80 percent in the middle and lower stratosphere.
"If you look at the total atmospheric column, from your head on up to the top of the atmosphere, this solar proton event depleted less than one percent of the total ozone in the Northern Hemisphere," Jackman said.
www.sciencedaily.com...
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History shows again and again
How nature points out the folly of men . . .Sunzilla!
Solar Superstorm
Scientists are beginning to understand a historic solar storm in 1859. One day, they say, it could happen again.
What happened in 1859 was a combination of several events that occurred on the Sun at the same time. If they took place separately they would be somewhat notable events. But together they caused the most potent disruption of Earth's ionosphere in recorded history. "What they generated was the perfect space storm," says Bruce Tsurutani, a plasma physicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
science.nasa.gov...
Free online book
The X rays from the flare bombarded the Earth’s atmosphere almost instantly, cooking the
ionosphere and producing a surge of electric currents. The solar flare was almost certainly accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (a phenomenon that
was not actually discovered until the 1970s), a blast of hot electrified particles that sped from Sun to Earth at 2,300 kilometers per second (more
than 5 million miles an hour). The shock wave and cloud smashed into the Earth’s magnetic field, causing a huge increase in the flow of invisible
electric currents in space and in our atmosphere. Those currents were strong enough to affect the strength of Earth’s magnetic field, as detected on
the ground; scientists call it a magnetic storm. In the decade leading up to Carrington’s flare, scientists such as General Edward Sabine had begun to suspect that solar activity could increase the auroral activity and could induce magnetic storms. So when Carrington learned in September 1859 that a magnetic storm had coincided with his flare, he came to suspect a physical connection between Sun and Earth. But in his notes to the Royal Astronomical Society, he qualified that connection by saying “one swallow does not make a summer.” There were too few data—just his one flare—to make such a direct connection.
www.nap.edu...
SOLAR STORMS CAUSE SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC AND OTHER IMPACTS ON EARTH
The solar storms that impacted the Earth between Oct. 19 to Nov. 7, 2003, further justify the benefits of NOAA space weather activities and remind the nation that space weather can be hazardous to Earth and space systems at any time during the 11-year solar cycle. This storm came as quite a surprise, since it occurred three-and-a-half years after solar minimum, when things are relatively quiet on the sun compared to solar maximum.
"It's like seeing a hurricane in November rather than August, when you'd typically expect it," commented Larry Combs, one of the NOAA Space Environment Center forecasters. “What also made these storms unusual is that there were two distinct, very intense geomagnetic storms, which both arrived in just 19 hours from the sun to the Earth. This ranks them as some of the fastest traveling solar storms on record and both produced the strongest activity this solar cycle — reaching extreme or G5 on the NOAA space weather scales." Because the NOAA Space Environment Center released advanced warnings about an unusually large solar storm, electrical utilities, airlines and spacecraft managers were able to take preventive action to minimize disruption of service — and the economy — due to the storm.
www.magazine.noaa.gov...
[edit on 10-9-2005 by Regenmacher]
