No electric problems with new solar surge
Source: Agencies |
March 10, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
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A solar storm shook the Earth's magnetic field early yesterday, but scientists said they had no reports of problems with electrical systems.
After reports on Thursday of the storm fizzling out, a surge of activity prompted space weather forecasters to issue alerts about changes in the magnetic field.
"We really haven't had any reports from power system operators yet," said Rob Steenburgh, a space weather forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. "But sometimes they don't come in until after the solar storm."
He said the storm reached a moderate level late Thursday, before going to a strong level early yesterday. For most of Thursday, it was rated as minor.
Scientists say such storms don't pose a threat to people, just technology.
The space weather center's website says a storm rated as strong could force corrections to voltage systems and trigger false alarms on some protection devices, as well as increase drag on satellites and affect their orientation.
While not aware of any significant impact to electrical or technological systems, forecasters said there was a two-hour blackout of high frequency radio communications - affecting mainly ham radio operations - stretching from eastern Africa to eastern Australia.
Steenburgh also said that another solar flare was detected late Thursday, similar to the one a few days ago that set off the current storm.
"Right now we're still analyzing when it will arrive" and how strong it could be, he said.
The space weather center had reports of Northern Lights across Canada and dipping into the northern tier of US states, Steenburgh said.
The current storm, which started with a solar flare Tuesday evening, caused a stir on Wednesday because forecasts called for a strong storm with the potential to knock electrical grids offline, mess with GPS and harm satellites. It even forced airlines to reroute a few flights on Thursday.
But when the storm finally arrived early Thursday, after traveling at 4.3 million kph, it was more a magnetic breeze than a gale. The power stayed on. So did satellites. And the promise of auroras seemed to be more of a mirage.
On Thursday, North American utilities didn't report any problems, said Kimberly Mielcarek, spokeswoman for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a consortium of electricity grid operators.
Astronomers say the sun has been relatively quiet for some time. And this storm, forecast to be strong and ending up minor, still may seem fiercer because Earth has been lulled by several years of weak solar activity.
The storm is part of the sun's normal 11-year cycle, which is supposed to reach a peak next year. Storms as large as the latest one will probably happen several more times as the cycle ramps up to that peak, scientists said.
After reports on Thursday of the storm fizzling out, a surge of activity prompted space weather forecasters to issue alerts about changes in the magnetic field.
"We really haven't had any reports from power system operators yet," said Rob Steenburgh, a space weather forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. "But sometimes they don't come in until after the solar storm."
He said the storm reached a moderate level late Thursday, before going to a strong level early yesterday. For most of Thursday, it was rated as minor.
Scientists say such storms don't pose a threat to people, just technology.
The space weather center's website says a storm rated as strong could force corrections to voltage systems and trigger false alarms on some protection devices, as well as increase drag on satellites and affect their orientation.
While not aware of any significant impact to electrical or technological systems, forecasters said there was a two-hour blackout of high frequency radio communications - affecting mainly ham radio operations - stretching from eastern Africa to eastern Australia.
Steenburgh also said that another solar flare was detected late Thursday, similar to the one a few days ago that set off the current storm.
"Right now we're still analyzing when it will arrive" and how strong it could be, he said.
The space weather center had reports of Northern Lights across Canada and dipping into the northern tier of US states, Steenburgh said.
The current storm, which started with a solar flare Tuesday evening, caused a stir on Wednesday because forecasts called for a strong storm with the potential to knock electrical grids offline, mess with GPS and harm satellites. It even forced airlines to reroute a few flights on Thursday.
But when the storm finally arrived early Thursday, after traveling at 4.3 million kph, it was more a magnetic breeze than a gale. The power stayed on. So did satellites. And the promise of auroras seemed to be more of a mirage.
On Thursday, North American utilities didn't report any problems, said Kimberly Mielcarek, spokeswoman for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a consortium of electricity grid operators.
Astronomers say the sun has been relatively quiet for some time. And this storm, forecast to be strong and ending up minor, still may seem fiercer because Earth has been lulled by several years of weak solar activity.
The storm is part of the sun's normal 11-year cycle, which is supposed to reach a peak next year. Storms as large as the latest one will probably happen several more times as the cycle ramps up to that peak, scientists said.
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