Massive solar ‘tsunamis’ could help predict if the sun is going to fry all of our electronics
NASA/sdomissionSparked by a medium-sized (C-class) flare, a long, magnetic filament burst out from the Sun, producing one of the best shows that SDO has seen (Aug. 31, 2012). Viewed in the 304 Angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, the filament strand gets stretched outwards until it finally breaks and heads off to the left. Some of the particles from this eruption did hit Earth with a glancing blow on Sept. 3, generating some beautiful aurora
Scientists have charted massive solar “tsunamis” dozens of time larger than the earth bursting out from the sun. These tendrils of superheated plasma could be key to helping us predict potentially electronics-frying coronal mass ejections — more popularly known as solar storms.
New research published in the journal Solar Physics has indicated that these massive solar tsunamis could help crack the mysteries of the sun’s magnetic field and allow scientists to predict solar events much more accurately.
These events, known as EIT waves, come after the coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
“These EIT waves are quite tricky — they’re very random and they’re relatively rare,” David Long told BBC News. “We need to be in the right place at the right time; this has been a long time coming.”
AFP PHOTO/NASA&JAXA/HinodeThis image from the joint NASA-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agencys Hinode mission, obtained June 27, 20123, shows the lower regions of the suns atmosphere, the interface region, which a new mission called the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, will study in exquisite detail.
Long and his team have been looking for an EIT event for more than half a decade, at first with a Japanese satellite that started observing the sun in 2006 and then with NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (which is in Earth orbit) in 2010.
“These are rare observations of a spectacular event that reveal some really interesting details about our nearest star” Long told Phys.org.
“This tells us a lot about the nature of the Sun and what goes on in the atmosphere,” Dr Long explained to the BBC. “These waves are quite important because they’re associated with CMEs that fire plasma out into the heliosphere, toward the Earth.”
The trick in this case is that by observing the waves next to the CMEs, it’s much easier to figure out where the next CME will be and if it will come barreling toward the Earth.
“Generally we see them when there’s a CME coming straight at us – but when it’s coming straight at us then it’s quite difficult to measure how fast it’s coming at us or how strong it is,” Dr Long said to the BBC. ”So by looking at these waves, we should be able to infer how powerful these CMEs are going to be.”
The solar superstorm of 1859, the most powerful solar storm on record, was so strong that it set telegraph lines on fire (and in some cases telegraphs continued working even after they were disconnected from power). If a similar storm were to happen today, it has the potential to massively disrupt communications networks. Any way to help predict solar storms could make weathering the storm easier (and, with the potential for billions of dollars in damage, cheaper).
“As our dependency on technology increases, understanding how these eruptions occur and travel will greatly assist in protecting against solar activity,” Long said to phys.org.
Find National Post on FacebookNASA Launches Satellite to Study How Sun's Atmosphere is Energized
NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft launched Thursday at 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The mission to study the solar atmosphere was placed in orbit by an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket.
IRIS is a NASA Explorer Mission to observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a little-understood region in the sun's lower atmosphere. This interface region between the sun's photosphere and corona powers its dynamic million-degree atmosphere and drives the solar wind. The interface region also is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate.
The Pegasus XL carrying IRIS was deployed from an Orbital L-1011 carrier aircraft over the Pacific Ocean at an altitude of 39,000 feet, off the central coast of California about 100 miles northwest of Vandenberg. The rocket placed IRIS into a sun-synchronous polar orbit that will allow it to make almost continuous solar observations during its two-year mission.
The L-1011 took off from Vandenberg at 6:30 p.m. PDT and flew to the drop point over the Pacific Ocean, where the aircraft released the Pegasus XL from beneath its belly. The first stage ignited five seconds later to carry IRIS into space. IRIS successfully separated from the third stage of the Pegasus rocket at 7:40 p.m. At 8:05 p.m., the IRIS team confirmed the spacecraft had successfully deployed its solar arrays, has power and has acquired the sun, indications that all systems are operating as expected.
"Congratulations to the entire team on the successful development and deployment of the IRIS mission," said IRIS project manager Gary Kushner of the Lockheed Martin Solar and Atmospheric Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif. "Now that IRIS is in orbit, we can begin our 30-day engineering checkout followed by a 30-day science checkout and calibration period."
IRIS is expected to start science observations upon completion of its 60-day commissioning phase. During this phase the team will check image quality and perform calibrations and other tests to ensure a successful mission.
NASA's Explorer Program at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., provides overall management of the IRIS mission. The principal investigator institution is Lockheed Martin Space Systems Advanced Technology Center. NASA's Ames Research Center will perform ground commanding and flight operations and receive science data and spacecraft telemetry.
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory designed the IRIS telescope. The Norwegian Space Centre and NASA's Near Earth Network provide the ground stations using antennas at Svalbard, Norway; Fairbanks, Alaska; McMurdo, Antarctica; and Wallops Island, Va. NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for the launch service procurement, including managing the launch and countdown. Orbital Sciences Corporation provided the L-1011 aircraft and Pegasus XL launch system.
Contacts and sources:
Susan M. Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center
For more information about the IRIS mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/iris
Goddard Space Flight Center
For more information about the IRIS mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/iris
The northern lights are actually a signal of sever magnetic storms, but what happens when the storms get too close to the grid? (AP Photo/File)
Solar storms have and will knock out major tech in the US
on July 16, 2013 @ 7:15 am (Updated: 11:55 am - 7/16/13 )We've all seen the Northern lights - we all know how beautiful they are, but they actually signal severe magnetic storms.Lloyd's of London, the big insurance company, is out with a new report on what might happen to our various electronic control systems if there was a really big solar storm.
They estimate the worst case scenario would leave 20 to 40 million people without power, because a big magnetic storm could induce large currents in electrical lines that could overload transformers and make them explode.
At a presentation in 2011, Louis Lanzerotti on the New Jersey Institute of Technology described the possible effects."Ranging from radiowave interference disruptions which are the cause or the problems for airlines; electrical grid disruptions which are related to electrical currents and pipelines; and also telecommunication circuits under the ocean."
This isn't mere speculation. He said, during the Q&A, that it's already happened.
"For example, in 2006, there was a huge solar radio burst that occurred. Solar radio noise travels at the same speed as the sunlight," explained Lanzerotti. "This solar radio burst knocked out all GPS across the United States and knocked out the vertical landing capabilities for more than 10 minutes across the United States. There was no warning of that at all.
"We don't have to say the sky is falling. We just need to say, 'Hey, we don't understand that, let's do some more study.'"
Lloyd's of London is estimating the worldwide impact of a major solar event would be about $2.6 trillion.
The lesson I take from that is, back everything up, ask yourself from time to time 'what's Plan B' if the lights go out and the cell phones don't work, and always keep a few books and kerosene lamps handy so you can stay entertained while the repair crews are working.
Because your Xbox would likely be fried.
Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross hosts the Morning News on KIRO Radio weekdays from 5-9 a.m., and the co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio, weekdays 9-10 a.m.
Dave Ross hosts the Morning News on KIRO Radio weekdays from 5-9 a.m., and the co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio, weekdays 9-10 a.m.
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