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TRACKING A PERFECT STORM

Predict solar storms! Monitor Space Weather and predict when solar events may threaten spacecraft and power grids and produce intense aurora! This article, “Tracking the Perfect Storm”, shows how you could have used the module, “Tracking a Solar Storm”, to monitor the solar storm and its effect on Earth in late May and early June of 2003.

93 million miles from Earth is the star we call the Sun. It is a dynamic body that provides the heat and light to sustain life on this planet. And it influences Earth’s environment in other ways. The Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona, flows outward from the Sun continuously in all directions in a stream of plasma (electrified gas) known as the solar wind.

This series of images shows a very special picture of the corona around the Sun. The LASCO camera on the SOHO satellite took these images. The dark disk in the center is attached to LASCO and blocks the bright emissions of the Sun. This allows LASCO to take pictures of the corona. The corona in these images is the bright gas around the dark disk. The very bright material in the upper right image is a coronal mass ejection. As it blasts out from the Sun, it expands. A typical coronal mass ejection can carry a billion tons of plasma, a mass equal to that of 10,000 aircraft carriers.

The magnetic field of the Earth forms a protective cocoon around our planet. This cocoon is called the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere shields Earth from the solar wind. Occasionally, however, a large storm occurs on the Sun and disrupts this system.

Tremendous heat and complex and powerful magnetic fields cause the Sun’s surface to churn and bubble. Areas of concentrated magnetism create sunspots. The areas around sunspots can produce intense explosions called solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).

Two Images of the Sun taken with Different Filters.
These two images of the Sun were taken on the same day with different filters. The left image shows sunspots as darker regions. In the right image the bright regions show small flares. The flares are occurring around the sunspot regions.

The explosions release both visible and invisible light (such as radio, ultraviolet, x-ray). Coronal Mass Ejections also produce very fast-moving plasma. Scientists call these events solar storms. These storms are like sudden gusts in the solar wind.

Solar storms take from 1 to 4 days to reach Earth. When they arrive, they severely warp Earth’s magnetosphere. This disturbance of Earth’s magnetic field is called a geomagnetic storm. Geomagnetic storms can have a wide-ranging impact on Earth. The disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field can result in a flood of energetic particles directed at Earth. The particles spiral down the magnetic field lines in the North and South Polar Regions . When these high-energy particles collide with the oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere, brilliant lights occur in the sky. These lights are known as aurora - Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and Aurora Australis (Southern Lights).

But the effects of solar storms are not always so beautiful and harmless. They have seriously disrupted radio signals and disabled communication satellites. Solar storms have caused surges in electricity grids, overwhelming power transformers, and causing widespread power outages. It is for these reasons that we maintain a solar storm watch.

The Student Observation Network module, “Tracking a Solar Storm”, allows you to be a solar storm watcher. As a Sunspotter you can monitor the Sun for sunspots that may produce flares or Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). When a flare or CME does erupt, it produces a strong radio signal. In the Storm Signals program, you can monitor the Sun for these characteristic radio signals. Flares and CMEs also emit ultraviolet light and x-rays that are detected by instruments on satellites. Images from these satellites can help you find out where on the Sun the eruption occurred. These light emissions (radio, ultraviolet and x-ray) from the eruption on the Sun take a little over 8 minutes to reach Earth. The high-energy plasma that is blasted out by the eruption will take 1 to 3 days to reach Earth. Evidence of a CME is a warning that a magnetic storm may occur when the plasma reaches Earth. The Magnetosphere program allows you to monitor the disturbance of the Earth’s magnetic field. If there is a large disturbance in our magnetic field, you may want to prepare for a beautiful aurora.

Let’s follow a storm that began on the Sun late in May of 2003 and caused auroras that were seen as far south as Virginia and California . All data and images used to show the progress of the storm are available through the Student Observation Network.

We first want to know if there were any sunspot regions on the Sun late in May that may have been a source of a solar storm. Sunspotters will give us that information.

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