The severe solar and geomagnetic storms currently affecting much of Europe and North America are due to disturbances in the sun’s magnetic field.
Such storms
can cause short or long-term power cuts and electronic communication
disruptions. Longer blackouts occur when copper connectivity fails and damages
equipment in the telecom networks.
On the
positive side, solar storms produce beautiful auroras (northern lights)
provided of course the night sky is relatively clear. Such lights have been
seen in parts of Portugal in the last
few days.
Shortly after 10 pm on Tuesday November 11th an intense solar flare was observed. It was followed less than an hour later by a massive coronal ejection with a speed estimated to be around 1500 kilometres per second, arriving on earth the following evening or early next morning, according to several university analysists.
The geometric storm may continue to affect power grids, satellites and navigation systems, but the experts say it does not pose a direct biological risk to people.
The European
Space Agency is closely monitoring this unusual space weather event and will
keep us updated.
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