Geomagnetic storm
May 10, 2024
Ever since the compass was invented in the third century BCE in China’s Han Dynasty, it has been believed by explorers and navigators for generations as an immutable determinant of the northern cardinal direction. However, the direction in which a compass points is neither the true tip of the imaginary axis upon which the earth rotates nor stable. Technically speaking, it was misnamed and should not even be considered the North at all. Nevertheless, the magnetic north pole, a point on the Earth’s surface located in the general vicinity yet still an appreciable distance away from the true north pole, actually switches locations with the south pole every hundred thousand or so years, moving around thirty to forty miles per year. The magnetic poles are generated by the fluid iron outer core and create a magnetic field enveloping the earth which protects it from charged particles bombarding our planet from outer space. Fluctuations and rotations of the outer core cause the location of the magnetic poles to change over time.
The sun also has mobile magnetic poles but its locations flip with their respective counterparts around once every eleven years rapidly and spontaneously. This rotation causes tremendous influxes in solar activity and may trigger noticeable effects on Earth. As such, with the recent changing of the solar poles, enormous amounts of charged materials are being ejected from the star, which resulted in today’s geomagnetic storm
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the geomagnetic storm hit at 3:54 PDT today and is expected to last until the weekend. It confirmed that at least seven Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), or large bursts of charged material released from active locations on the sun’s surface, are directed at the Earth. The agency added that the CMEs originated from a “large, complex sunspot complex” reportedly 17 times the diameter of the earth. Although everyday citizens will not be directly impacted, the Global Positioning System (GPS) as well as other electronically based instruments may see temporary malfunctions or issues. Additionally, Auroras or northern lights will be seen as far south as California.
The NOAA has classified this geomagnetic disturbance as a category 5 extreme storm, a classification reserved for the most intense of such events. The most recent time in which this title had been invoked was during the 2003 solar polar shift, during which power outages occurred in Sweden and further disruptions happened in South Africa. The largest such magnetic storm in recorded history was the Carrington Event of 1859 when a geomagnetic storm made auroras visible worldwide and caused fires in the new telegraph stations. However, scientists believe that much larger geomagnetic outbursts known as Miyake events have existed, causing a rise in the concentration of Carbon-14 in some tree rings.
The present geomagnetic storm will be a pleasant opportunity for stargazers but may become a headache for many navigators around the world.