Geomagnetic storm hits Earth, could have triggered auroras in the US

The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), issued a warning on Sunday that said a G1-class geomagnetic storm has arrived with a K-index of 5. To put things in perspective, let’s break down this scientific phenomenon.

According to SpaceWeather dot com, the geomagnetic effects are reported to have been caused by a coronal mass ejection (CME). CMEs are also known as solar storms which refer to the phenomenon in which the Sun ejects highly magnetised particles.  While Earth’s atmosphere protects us from these particles, they can still interact with our planet’s magnetic field. These particles have the potential to result in strong electric currents on the surface. 

Scientifically speaking, the K-index is used as a reference for the G-scale, which is to measure the strength of geomagnetic storms. The SWPC releases alerts if it records a K-index measurement of 4 or above.

So, according to the recent alert, when a geomagnetic storm of K-index 5 hit Earth, it may have caused the sky to light up with auroras in northern US states. According to NASA, the aurora borealis and aurora australis — also called the northern lights and southern lights — occur at the northern and southern poles when the Earth’s magnetic field interacts with solar particles.

Popular space weather forecaster Dr. Tamitha Skov, had also tweeted a few days ago about this solar storm which read, “Fast Hit or Slow? An Earth-directed #solarstorm is on its way to Earth, but NASA & NOAA predictions disagree on impact time. NASA says the impact will be near midnight on March 28, but NOAA believes 18 hours earlier. Either way #aurora could reach to mid-latitudes! (sic)”

Miho Janvier, a space physicist at the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale in France, told Newsweek that the number of CMEs being released by the sun approximately follows the solar cycle, which could last 11 to 13 years on average. She said scientists are expecting more solar activity and therefore more CMEs to be launched from our parent star, and that it’s an exciting time ahead for researchers who are interested in probing these solar storms.